Love's Sprouting in Melromarc High
by Phanzuru
Summary: Raphtalia, one of the best in her school, has found someone that has caught her eye. Raphtalia's friends has mixed opinions about him, but it shouldn't matter to Raphtalia, right? She has school to worry about so a little crush shouldn't worry her, right? Raphtalia has fallen in love... (School AU so please... don't hurt me.) Alive Rifana
1. Chapter 1

Raphtalia was a pretty and beautiful girl in her school. The Demi-Human society appreciates her because of her performances in school. Being one of the top students in the school, her parents became very proud of her. The amount of support that she gets when she works hard on her work helps Raphtalia throughout her day. In natural terms, basically, the Demi-Humans love her.

Raphtalia has the tendency to help anyone with a smile. Whether if it was assisting the teachers with their supplies, getting a cat out of the tree, or helping a child with their bruises; she will help anyone that is in need of assistance. Kind, benevolent smiles, and smart were all the traits that described Raphtalia. However, there is one thing that the Demi-Humans don't know about Raphtalia.

...She is-no, let's wait a bit before telling…

Melromarc Academy was one of the most prestigious schools in its nation. While that is a thing, there is one thing that Demi-Humans hate about the school: it's the problem humans have against the Demi-Humans. To the humans in Melromarc, they only see Demi-Humans as a stepping stone. This angered many Demi-Humans, while some of the Demi-Humans students went on riots about how unfair they would be treated when attending school. A huge majority of them had to deal with bullying from their upperclassmen.

However, this was not Raphtalia. Because Raphtalia was basically the representation of an ideal Demi-Human, not a single person has touched her. Of course, if they were to do that, then I'm sure that the Demi-Humans would do the best in their power to hunt that person or group down. Raphtalia was their goddess, and none shall touch her without punishment coming to them. They would want her to be pure; nothing shall taint the smile that Raphtalia shows to everyone in the morning.

There was no peace between the two species. While they do coexist, they do not appreciate each other's existence. Well, besides Raphtalia. She treats everyone as an equal person. It matters not if they were human, a person is a person to Raphtalia.

After all, she's in-

"Raphtalia-chan, can you let me borrow your homework again?" These words came from her childhood friend, Keel. Because of her tomboyish act, everyone simply thought that she was a boy at first look. Keel was already used to this treatment ever since she was young. With her dad raising her as a boy, how wouldn't someone get confused about her appearance? Now, being a high schooler, as she's trying to get rid of that problem, she is allowing her black and white hair to grow long as the years go by.

"Again, Keel-kun? Other than letting you copy it, I'll help you with the work." Raphtalia couldn't get angry at her childhood friend. Other than her bratty personality, that's basically how she was. Lazy and bratty. But when it comes to helping Raphtalia, it's a whole different story.

"Yay! Thanks, Raphtalia-chan!" Keel raised her hands in excitement, appreciating the fact that Raphtalia was willing to help her with her homework.

"You know, Keel-kun, you shouldn't be acting like that. You have to learn to do things on your own." Raphtalia's other childhood friend, Rifana, was more of a girly person compared to Keel. She'll love to gossip about love and boys like the usual high school girls these days.

"Rifana-chan, I know how to do things on my own! It's… just a matter of time for when I want to do something productive, that's all!" Keel pouted her cheeks as she looked back at Rifana.

"Oh boy, I'm worried for any boy that would even dare to go out with you. Have mercy on their souls, God." She closed her eyes and put her hands together as if she was making a prayer to God.

"Hey! I'm sure there's someone out there that cares about the outside and not the inside!"

"Keel-kun, I think you're using that phrase wrong…" Raphtalia laughed as she heard her childhood friends bicker with one another. As they walked towards the school, she was greeted by many Demi-Humans along the way.

"Alright, I think that's enough bickering for today, girls. We're going to have to focus or we're going to be late for school." Raphtalia reminded. There was a time where Raphtalia was able to reach the school but her friends were missing. Instead of entering the school, she searched for them, only to find them conversing with one another about something she doesn't remember.

"Speaking about boys, do you have something in mind, Raphtalia-chan~?" Rifana teased, wanting to know about the potential crush she has in mind.

"H-huh? B-boys in mind? I-I'm busy with school, I don't have time for that!" Raphtalia's blushing face went against every single word that she says, causing Rifana to giggle.

"So you do have someone in mind~?You didn't deny it, so you at least have someone in mind, huh~?" Keel was shocked enough to even say anything for the moment.

"I-I told you, I don't-" Raphtalia tried her best to look at different things in her view that would make her calm down. Turns out, this wasn't helping her at all. Raphtalia wasn't aware of the fact that they arrived at the school.

"Oh, would you look at that? We're at school, I can't wait to see the guy that you have your eyes on." Rifana giggled before walking in front of her. Raphtalia only sighed as she put on a smile.

"Good morning!" Raphtalia waved at the person who greeted her. This was a routine to Raphtalia now. She greets everyone and keep on walking. It didn't matter if some of the Humans glared at her, she only kept waving and smiling.

"Hey, watch where you're going." A male human with black hair had accidentally bumped into her. It wasn't Raphtalia's fault, he hadn't watch where he was going so he had put the blame on her. Looking at his face, Raphtalia could easily tell that he was cold in personality. It was the early morning, why would someone even act like this at this time?

"S-sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Are you-" It took Raphtalia a second to process who she was talking to…

Naofumi Iwatani, the person who is hated by most people in the school. No because of how he looks, but because of the rumors that were about him. The most important one being that he had tried to force Malty, the daughter of the principal, into something that she didn't want. Well, before, Naofumi and Malty had went out a long time ago, until they had broken up after the rumor started. Whether it was true or not, Raphtalia didn't care.

It was because Raphtalia-

"Just don't let it happen again." Naofumi had left her standing there with a small blush on her face. Rifana and Keel was next to her, noticing the interaction between the two.

"Naofumi Iwatani, huh? Not the best of choices, but still, I think if you can go past that rude behavior of his, then you can probably go out with him." Raphtalia automatically looked back at Rifana where she could see the blushing face of Raphtalia.

"I don't like him! He's… he's just...!" Raphtalia tried to find the words to get out of the situation, but she couldn't. The face that Rifana was making was making her feel even more weird.

"Oh, don't be like that Raphtalia-chan~! Don't worry, 'it's just a small crush', right?" Rifana continued to tease her as Keel looked at Naofumi's disappearing figure with a glare.

"That was rude of him! He just bumped into you and put the blame on you! He deserves to apologize!" Keel wasn't liking Naofumi already. First, he is said to force Malty into a 'situation' that she didn't like, and second, he was rude to Raphtalia.

"Keel-kun, it's fine. Don't worry about it." Raphtalia tried to reassure Keel that everything was fine, but Keel had grabbed her hand and looked at her with concerning eyes.

"No, it's not fine! Raphtalia, make him apologize or I'll-"

"Keel-kun, as much as I agree with you, I can't. The scene is over and it will be for the best of us to just let it go." Keel looked reluctant, but she dropped it.

* * *

"See you at class, Raphtalia!" Keel and Rifana had waved their goodbyes as she found the class that she was supposed to attend. Before that, she paused before opening the door.

Her heart started to race as she remembered the scene that happened only a few minutes ago. Not only had they touched shoulders, but they had talked to one another as well! Because of that, her heart started racing. His black hair, his analyzing eyes, his tone of voice, everything about him had screamed out to Raphtalia.

That's because Raphtalia's in love with a Human…

And that Human… was Naofumi Iwatani...


	2. Chapter 2

No matter what she thinks of school, no matter what her performance is in school, she will not about being perfect. Of course, that's what other Demi-Humans would label her as such, but to Raphtalia, she didn't care about any of that. All that mattered to Raphtalia was to do the best she could in school. That's what her parents expected of her, after all.

While some will struggle whilst asking Raphtalia for support in their work, some are inspired by her to always try their best as well. She wasn't trying to be a representation to her Demi-Human peers, but it was all out of her control now.

It's now safe to say that Raphtalia is a very popular girl in school now...

"Have a nice day, Raphtalia-chan!"

"Yeah, do the best you can!" Two female students waved to Raphtalia as they left the room. Raphtalia automatically waved back with a smile on her face. To say that she wasn't used to this kind of treatment would be a lie.

"Raphtalia-chan, let's go to the roof and have some lunch." Rifana, along with Keel, were in her class at this time. Now that the most stressful class was finished, which was Math, it was time to relax with some lunch.

"Sure, I was lucky enough to-huh?" While Raphtalia was talking, she was digging in her bed to find out that there was something missing in her bag:

Her lunch…

Raphtalia's ears and tail had automatically deflated upon noticing that she had forgotten her food at home. It was a beautiful bento that her mom had made for her. Because Raphtalia wasn't that good at cooking, she had her mom make her lunch for her. One day, Raphtalia hopes to become a great cook so she could make anything on the spot.

"What's wrong, Raphtalia-chan? You look like your bike's been stolen." Keel asked.

"O-oh, it's nothing. I forgot about my lunch at home." Raphtalia said this as if she wasn't bothered by it, but Rifana and Keel could easily tell that she was bothered.

"Wanna share? I have some food to spare." Rifana was the first to offer up her food to her troubled friend. Since they always looked out for each other, they would always help each other when anyone is troubled.

"I-it's fine! I could go buy some lunch, you know! You don't have to-"

"C'mon, Raphtalia-chan, this is my returning favor from the time you shared your lunch with me that day when I left my food. And you know that I'm very clumsy at times!" Keel wanted to also share her food with her. Raphtalia had always helped her when she had trouble with something.

"You guys… alright, thank you both for the food." Raphtalia smiled at her two friends as they were what she needed for the right time. As they started to walk towards the door, Rifana noticed something on someone's table.

"Hey, whose lunch is that?" Rifana pointed at the lunch that was sitting on the desk unmonitored. The lunch that was on the desk was a basic sandwich that was in a wrapper.

"Hm, I don't know. Isn't that Naofumi Iwatani's seat?" If memory plays right in Keel's head, then that was the seat that Naofumi occupies in this class. It was close to the window of the hallway, letting him see everything that was outside the class.

"Wouldn't it make sense for it to be his lunch that he left then?" Raphtalia looked the lunch curiously. Surely it wasn't because she wasn't hungry…

"Nah, he already left the classroom for lunch so it couldn't be his. Besides, if he wasn't stupid, then he would already have his lunch in his bag. It can't be his." Keel didn't care if it was Naofumi's at all. She didn't like the behavior that he showed to Raphtalia earlier so she could care less if he was going to starve. Keel, Raphtalia, nor Rifana didn't care about the rumors that were on Naofumi's head. They didn't care, but then again, they never talked to him to even know if they were true or not.

"But still, I think it should be nice to give to him. Even if he does have his own lunch, we should still ask if it's his." Raphtalia was simply a nice person. She would want to see everyone smile. Especially an angry person like Naofumi should deserve to smile once in a while.

Suddenly, the door to the classroom opened…

And behind it, revealed np one other than Naofumi Iwatani…

"U-um…" Raphtalia tried her best to say something as there was nothing but silence before she spoke, but she couldn't muster up the words to say anything to him. One side of her is shy because she's speaking to him again, and the other side is nervous.

"..." Naofumi didn't say anything to them as he walked towards his desk to retrieve his sandwich.

"Hey!" Keel was the first to say something before he had the chance to grab his sandwich. Looking at her with a glare, he stared at Keel with anger.

"...What?" The coldness of his voice had made Raphtalia's spine shiver. Of course, she was frightened to speak to him.

"Don't think I didn't see what happened this morning with Raphtalia-chan. I clearly saw you bump into her without apologizing! _You _should had been the one to apologize!" Keel was determined to make Naofumi apologize to Raphtalia. Even if she was determined, Naofumi continued to stare at her with a glare.

"So?" Naofumi started to walk towards Keel with anger in his eyes. "And what are _you _going to do about it?" Before Naofumi had the chance to get in Keel's face, he was stopped by Rifana as she held out his sandwich in front of his face, shocking him.

"...Let's forget that ever happened. I'm… sorry for what my friend here, she's a bit hot headed at times. I know this is random to ask, but… would you like to join us for lunch? I know my friend Raphatalia-chan would _love _you to join us." Rifana smiled at him, much to Naofumi's surprise. In the corner of his left eye, he can see Raphtalia staring at him with a look that want basically tells him that she wants him to join.

"...No. I'm fine eating on my own." Taking the sandwich from Rifana's hand, he placed it back into his bag and started to walk towards the door. Raphtalia missed her chance to speak to him, causing her ears to deflate once again.

"...Oi." Raphtalia picked her head up as she heard Naofumi spoke out loud. As their eyes met, it was a huge pause of silence before speaking again. As Raphtalia continued to look at him in the eye, she could see something behind those green eyes, but she couldn't see understand what it was. All that was in her mind was the amount of beating ticks she heard from her heart.

Her heart started to pound faster and faster as his eyes silently stared at her...

"...Nevermind." With that said, he opened the door and left the room. Raphtalia and her friends stared at classroom door before deciding to finally leave to the rooftop. Raphtalia could only sit down with disappointment in her mind.

* * *

"Raphtalia-chan, why do you look disappointed? Is there something wrong?" Keel was the first to ask what was wrong with her as she took a bite of the rice ball that she was given from Rifana.

"It's nothing." Raphtalia bit into the rice ball with her eyes closed. Rifana and Keel sweatdropped as they understood that she was angry at something. Raphtalia wouldn't just say "it's nothing" with an angry look on her face while eating. Not that anyone else but Rifana and Keel knows, but they know that Raphtalia usually eats with a smile with her face. It's simply because she loves to eat food.

"Raphtalia-chan, are you angry that Keel-kun messed up your chances to be with your destined partner? Don't worry, the next time we meet I'll make sure that-" Before Rifana had the chance to finish her sentence, Raphatalia had spit out all of the food that she had in her mouth at Rifana.

"I-I'm sorry, Rifana-chan!" Raphtalia's face was covered in red with embarrassment etched on her face.

"It's fine, I kind of expected that when mentioning your destined partner." Rifana wiped her face with a cloth that she had with her at most times.

"S-stop saying that! We-we're not anything like that!" Rifana's expression had turned mischievous as she saw Raphtalia's red face.

"Yes, yes, I know that already. It's just fun to tease you, that's all. It's nothing but a joke, I'm serious." She might be apologizing, but her face doesn't match with her words.

"C-can you not say that with that look on your face?" Raphtalia looked uncomfortable as she continued to look at Rifana with a nervous look.

"No, no, it's all fine. I'm not trying to mess with you any longer. Naofumi has nothing to do with you, especially when you don't have a huge crush on him. I will not tease you any longer, Raphtalia-chan."

"Rifana-chan, please stop messing with Raphtalia-chan. Can't you see that she's bothered?" Rifana looked at Keel when she got her attention.

"What? It's all just fun and games Keel-kun. I'm not trying to hurt her feelings."

"Rifana-chan, look at her." Rifana looked back at Raphtalia to see the expression that she's giving off right now. And to her surprise, all she could see was the broken expression that she now has on her face.

Red face, and steam coming out of her ears…

"P-partners? I-I'm not that at that age to worry about partners yet? She must be talking about project partners, right? Of course she was! She wouldn't be saying that as in… m-mating terms, right? I-I have to focus o-on my studies so I can't worry about b-boys! Naofumi isn't attractive! I-It's just hard to get him out of my head, that's all! I'm not bothered by stupid rumors that he has! What am I even saying anymore!" Rifana and Keel looked at Raphtalia with concerned looks.

"Y-Yeah, I think I should tone it down with the teasing…" Keel only hummed as she agreed with Rifana. Life was going to be difficult with love in the mix, Raphtalia.


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N) **

**Phew, I didn't think that there would be such a huge audience for this story. Sorry for the late update, I was busy trying to figure out what I should do with this story. Hey, it's hard for me to think of ideas for high school romance. While it is my favorite genre, it's hard to figure out what to write about. Unless… I'm open for some ideas. Let me know on some ideas as to what I can write with the growing love that Raphtalia feels for Naofumi. It's a great inspiration kicker for me! **

Demi-Human History. It was an interesting subject to learn about as most people don't really understand a thing about Demi-Humans. When I mean most people, I mean the Humans who have an on-going grudge against the Demi-Humans. For this class, it makes much sense for it to be filled with Demi-Humans. However, the history of Demi-Humans were no joke to be laughing at.

In the past, Demi-Humans were treated as the worst form of people to hang around with…

However, this wasn't just a come-and-go kind of rumor; no, this was proved with actual facts. In the past, before this generation of Demi-Humans, some would consider that Demi-Humans were nothing but savage creatures. They used to target the humans, seeking to hopefully find peace but taking out as many Humans they could find.

This had started the Human Slaughter: Demi-Humans Retaliation…

Till this day, some Humans will never forgive the Demi-Humans for what they've done to their fellow species in the past. Some will go out of their way to hunt down Demi-Humans that were even innocent!

They wanted revenge…

But whatever it took, there was no way that anyone could hope to find peace if there is no action to be said and done. Humans will need to forget, and Demi-Humans will need to forgive…

This was not going to be easy-going with many enraged Demi-Humans, though…

Anyway, speaking of Demi-Human History, Raphtalia really liked this class. Well, she was never the type to try and ignore the lesson at hand. Raphtalia was trying to make her parents proud of her. She didn't have the time to gossip about things that she wasn't really interested in. Perfume, makeup, and even boys-well, that one might be a lie, but oh well.

Raphtalia was in love with Naofumi Iwatani…

A Human…

As Raphtalia copies down the notes, piece by piece, she couldn't help the fact of taking a sneak glimpse of the person to the left of her. No, she shouldn't be paying attention to anything else but the lesson itself. If she didn't pay attention, then she might miss a piece of valuable information!

Her notes had been filled with the thoughts of Demi-Humans, interested in what they were like in the past. Savage beasts? That didn't seem to sit well with Raphtalia. While she does find the history of Demi-Humans, she couldn't help but flinch when she read the few words that were on her notes: 'Savage'...

Raphtalia kept pondering about the word for a couple of seconds before going back to the board to see the next notes. As slow as they came, she had the time to quickly write them onto her notes and ponder to herself.

"_Was… it forbidden?" _Raphtalia pondered to herself of the few words that she had written down from the board; relationships between Humans and Demi-Humans. This… was a coincidental subject to be discussed about. However, what Raphtalia meant by 'it', she meant the only word that starts to plague her mind from the start of the deep feeling she had in her heart…

Ah, it was love…

Was the relationship between Demi-Humans and Humans actually possible? Would people even accept happiness from them? Or would they… disagree with the idea entirely? It was an interesting subject to be discussed, indeed…

Fortunately for Raphtalia, her answer had been answered by the teacher…

…

Turns out, it was rare for a Demi-Human and Human to fall in love. It was a type of love that had not been seen in this day and era…

And for that, Raphtalia sighs with relief…

And for that, Raphtalia wonders why she even felt relieved. It wasn't like she had a special human in mind that took her interest, not one bit. Naofumi Iwatani was definitely not the person who she was thinking about when she started to think about love.

No, she had someone in mind that was definitely not Naofumi Iwatani. And so, she started to write about the person that she had in mind without any hesitation. The green eyes that he displayed as he looked her made her heart skip a beat. The black hair that he has made it all too tempting to not try to ravage through that hair.

His stance yelled her attention…

His eyes called for her interest…

His voice made him more alluring…

"Raphtalia, could you please read the-" The teacher had a full expectation of Raphatalia. She was the student that the teacher had desperately wanted to succeed in life. She was full of surprises. The high grades that she was able to accomplish, and even the surprising-

"No! I have no interest in him!" Raphtalia's outburst was another thing that had surprised the teacher. Not once had he expected the greatest Demi-Human student to suddenly scream out in a lesson. Was she… not paying in class?

Oh no…

"H-huh? N-no, I'm very sorry! M-may you please r-repeat what you were-" The teacher raised his glasses to hide his surprised look that he did not want to show to his class. Everyone in the entire class had heard the sudden outburst that she had made, making students look at her with concern.

Even the student who was busy taking things to escort them to another class had opened the door to see if Raphtalia was feeling alright…

"I-it's okay, Raphtalia-chan, if you don't want to r-read, then you don't have to. Hmm, how about…" As the students concerned looks settled down, she sat back down into her seat. What a humiliating thing to do in class! Not only had she not been paying attention, she had also yelled at the teacher…

Sneaking a glimpse to the person on her left, she held an embarrassing red face. Because of what she did and because of what she was thinking about, there was no way the person who was sitting next to her had found her… weird, right?

Oh, the person sitting next to her was no one special…

It was only Naofumi Iwatani who had been calmly sitting in his seat with his head on his hand as he continued to write down the notes that he might've missed before. Why was he in a Demi-Human class? Well, it was because he wasn't the one to care about what type of person who would speak to. As the student who had been called out to read, she took this chance to look at him…

He was calm…

Nothing seemed to faze his cold and harsh eyes…

How would she know? Well, it's because Naofumi had started to look at Raphtalia in the eye right now…

And because of her random outburst, his cold and harsh facade that he kept on, had been replaced with a soft and genuine laugh…

Raphtalia had only one thought in mind: disappearing from the face of Melromarc. While she had found his laugh to be attracting, she had seemed to think of his laughter in the wrong way. Naofumi Iwatani had thought of her outburst to be actually funny, but Raphtalia thought of the wrong thing entirely…

She thought he was laughing because she made a fool of herself…

With that, Raphtalia started to write in her book once again, however, it wasn't the notes that she was copying down…

She started to write to herself that she definitely not like Naofumi Iwatani…

…

…

About 20 times a page in her book…

* * *

"Raphtalia-chan, you are in love with Naofumi Iwatani." Rifana had dodged the bamboo stick that was aimed for her leg. After school, Raphtalia and Rifana had the thought of having a spar in a Kendo match. While Rifana wasn't the best at Kendo, Raphtalia was slowly becoming a master at swordsmanship.

"Stop saying th-kuh!" Because of the random fact that she had heard from Rifana, Raphatalia had left herself to be open to a blow that she wouldn't have normally taken.

"You actually took a hit? Alright, Raphtalia-chan, I think it's best if we… you know, con-" Rifana had clashed bamboo swords with Raphtalia before she had the chance to finish her sentence.

"Don't even finish that sentence, Rifana-chan. I told you, I don't have a romantic interest in him." As the bamboo sword in Raphtalia's hand was about to break, Rifana looked at her with a calm look.

"Okay, I think that we're done for today, Raphtalia-chan." Rifana moved away from Raphtalia, causing her to move forward and trip slightly.

"What do you mean? Didn't we just start?" Raphtalia was generally concerned as she thought that Rifana wasn't feeling well.

"We did, but I think it's time we focus on the more important subject at hand." Rifana took off her face protector and dropped it onto the floor. Now, Raphtalia can easily see the calm look that she had ever since the spar started.

"Huh? What do we have to talk about? I told you, Rifana-chan, I don't-"

"Raphtalia-chan, please stop trying to lie to yourself. It will only make things worse for you…" Raphtalia's eyes widened as she heard the words that came from out of her mouth.

"Don't think that I haven't noticed that outburst that you had during that lesson. Plus, you're starting to act very sloppily in our spar." Raphtalia cocked her head to the side as she wondered what she meant.

"Sloppy? What do you mean?"

"Raphtalia-chan, everytime we spar, it doesn't even take 3 minutes for you to make me yield. Before you started to think about Naofumi, you were more focused on anything that you had put your mind on. Kendo wasn't for your parents, it was for the means of protecting yourself, wasn't it?" Raphtalia stayed silent as she was afraid for the words that could potentially come out of her mouth.

"Raphtalia-chan, I hate when you're like this. You seem… conflicted as to needs to be done, into something that you shouldn't care about. But most importantly, I hate it when you lie to yourself. I know you care so much about Naofumi, and I think you should at least talk to him. If you start to feel… no, just take it slow, Raphtalia-chan. Take it slow and then one day, you will have the courage to ask him on a date." Raphtalia opened her mouth, only to pause on her words that were about to come out of her mouth.

"I… okay, Rifana-chan. If you're this concerned for me, then I have no choice but to do it. I'll talk to Naofumi tomorrow morning." Rifana giggled, causing Raphtalia to look at her with a confused look.

"You shouldn't be deciding that for me Raphtalia-chan, this is for _you." _Before Raphtalia had the chance to speak, the doors to the training room had suddenly slammed open.

And who came from it, was no one other than Naofumi Iwatani…

With two mean-looking students who were looking for a fight…

While Naofumi was shoved through the door, he still kept his calm and reserved look in this type of desperate situation. For him to be like this, it only comes to show that Naofumi could have potentially been used to this kind of treatment. The tall one, who had green hair and ear piercings, had been the one to shove him through the doors. The small and scrawny one next to him had black hair and freckles on his face…

Truly, the definition to scum…

At least, in Raphtalia's eyes...

"So, you're the hotshot that dared to hit on the princess of the school. Malty-chan has some business that needs to be done with you. And that involves some personal treatment that's bound to happen to your face!" The guy next to him had snickered, hopefully waiting for a scared expression to be shown from Naofumi…

And to their surprise, he had nothing to say but the glare that shows more than a thousand words…

"So you think you're tough, eh? Well, let's see how tough you are when you deal with this!" The small guy was already rounding up for a punch. As his fist was coming closer to Naofumi's face, suddenly, he was bonked on the head by a bamboo sword.

"Oi, who the hell did that!" Asking that, in return, he felt the bamboo sword forcefully collide with his stomach. Because of that, he had passed out on the spot.

"Now, if you have the audacity to come in here and mess with a fellow student, then I suppose that you already know what happens next, don't you?" Raphtalia's voice was nothing but cold now. This was a place that was meant for training, not for the sake of causing a brawl to happen.

"Oh, so little good Demi-Human decided that she wanted to play? Well, I'm sure that once I'm done with you, I'm sure that the Demi-Humans would have nothing but fear when I-" He didn't have the chance to say anything else other than that.

A clean and hard punch had collided with his face, causing him to fall down hard…

To Raphtalia's surprise, she saw Naofumi holding his fist up with a red mark on his knuckles. With the strength of that punch, he had easily knocked the guy out with no problems. Rifana had decided to stay on the sidelines so she didn't have to get in Raphtalia's way. She knew that Raphtalia was bound to help Naofumi, after all...

"Ow." That was all Naofumi said as he started to walk towards the door, wanting to leave to go home. Seeing this, Raphtalia wanted to stop him, wanting to speak with him, and wanting to not let him leave. This was her chance to try to get closer to him.

Today or hopefully tomorrow…

They could be friends...

"Wait!" Raphtalia had yelled to gain his attention. To her surprise, he looked back with the same calm look that he had when he first stares at her.

"What?" His voice had made her spine start to shiver…

"I… wanted to say that-" Naofumi only raised his hand to stop her from talking.

"Word of advice: please, don't try to get close to me. You're going to get nothing but trouble if you decide to stick by my side…" With that, he left, leaving a concerned Rifana and Raphtalia…

And still, Raphtalia felt like she was miles away from Naofumi Iwatani…

It was good that Keel went home when she had the chance...


	4. Behind Masks?

Friends. This was such a word that was born from the trust of others. Frankly, one does not trust another person if they do not see the personality that they hide under their masks when they go outside. Are they hiding secrets of their own self behind the mask? Or do they wear the mask in order to protect themselves from someone else?

Why does one even put on a mask?

Raphtalia can't be the one to answer this question. When she first met Keel and Rifana, they easily made themselves acquainted with one another without ever doubting that they would leave each other behind. They were children at the time. But even so, a child can quickly adapt to one's surroundings and they would use that knowledge to make sure that they stay safe.

Looking at Raphtalia, she was a person that nearly every person wants to meet. Why wouldn't they? She's basically a popular girl in school, so why wouldn't someone want to be friends with Raphtalia? With her popularity, she should have thousands of Demi-Human friends.

However, Keel and Rifana are the only friends that she has…

Why? Well, Raphtalia is quick to adapt to her surroundings. This wasn't something anyone could easily point out. Someone would need to keep an eye on her movements to fully understand how she can adapt to those around her.

With her kendo practices, her reactions are sharp…

In lessons, she points out the most important things, showing how situational she is in dire situations...

However, she still remains to have Keel and Rifana as her only two friends…

Raphtalia wasn't stupid, she understands the difference between people and what goes through their heads. Telepathic? No. Ever since Raphtalia had been rising to everyone's attention, she had been noticing many different types of people who want to confront her:

People who want to copy her answers to get work done…

People who want to become friends with her for… reasonings she automatically declined…

And people who want to have her as a girlfriend for fame…

Raphtalia never cared about these sorts of people. She couldn't believe that there were many people who want to be close to her for their own selfish reasons. She avoided them with every excuse that she could think of. However, as for the kind people who actually want to be friends with her, she acknowledges them, but she can't become a friendly as she is with Keel or Rifana.

...These were some of the things that Naofumi Iwatani had noticed about her. Don't get him wrong, Naofumi is anything but a stalker. After meeting her on that day where he bumped into her, he had nothing to do with her. He was able to tell who she was and how important she was to the Demi-Human society, so he tried his best to avoid her at all costs.

She was popular… as much as the same as Malty. That's the reason why he can't find himself to affiliate himself with her. Because of Malty, he doesn't want to be around females that much anymore. After what Malty did to him, he can't trust anyone else anymore. No matter if Raphtalia was the most well-respected person in school, she, too hides secrets behind the mask that she creates when going to school.

Has he ever met her outside of school? No. He can only think this because of how Malty acted with him when he was going out with her. She was kind, but that was nothing but a lie. Her reasoning for going out with him?

That's something he doesn't want to think about because it makes him too upset.

His parents had understood the problem who was facing, and they were there for him. Instead of focusing on past events, he needed to look forward. He remembers his mother telling him that the world is not always built on anger. It could be built on lies, but anger was never the solution to finding themselves in a binding situation.

He wanted to scoff at that, but couldn't find himself to do so. He wanted to listen to his mother's advice, as that was the only thing he could do now. But still, it's hard to not think of anger when he's in the same school as her. He needed to get some sort of reliever when he's on his back home. A stress ball was something he can always carry on his person when he gets too upset.

"Um…" An uneasy voice had broken Naofumi's train of thought. As the class was over, he chose to remain seated until everyone else leaves so he could have his peace and quiet. Now, it was supposed to be like that until something decided to talk to him.

Naofumi can only wonder if this was another person who wanted to know if he actually dated Malty before…

And for that, he clenched his fists…

"What do you want?" Cold, and harsh. Without even caring who was speaking to him, he still chose to act like this. That was the only tone of voice he could use so everyone could step away from him. He must never allow someone to step into his space again.

How does Raphtalia do it? He can only wonder how she can allow such people to even get close to her. Yes, her choice of dealing with these people was based on avoidance. Everyone had a form of avoidance. And this was his form of avoidance…

He notices how she acts around these people; calm and caring with the resolve of leaving those people alone. Unlike Raphtalia, Naofumi was anything but those things. Well, not anymore. Just as much as he needed his eyes opened to this cruel world, Raphtalia was going to need to as well.

However, there was one thing that Naofumi can never understand about Raphtalia:

For what reason, does she act so shy around him?

It couldn't be for love, no, she surely knew about the rumors that was all about him being a creepy man doing creepy things with his girlfriend, so why does she act like that when she's close to him?

"Could… c-could you…" Paying more attention, he was able to understand that the person who was trying to speak with him was a female. Even so, with their shy manners, he was only starting to get annoyed. Just like Raphtalia's shyness, he can't understand why the person who was trying to speak to him stutters like so.

"Oi, just spill it out already." He didn't want to raise his voice; as he didn't want to cause a scene and become the center of attention again. However, he noticed something recognizable about the female. It was their hair. It was brown. And just behind the female's hair, was a wagging tail...

Oh, boy.

"Would you… like to have lunch with me?"

* * *

A few hours ago

"The secret to the man's heart is through his stomach." Raphtalia only sighed as this was the fourth time that she heard this from Rifana's mouth.

"Rifana-chan, I thought we were supposed to focus on becoming friends…" Raphtalia was a bit unsure if she should continue to listen to Rifana's… advice.

"The secret to the man's heart is through his stomach." Rifana ignored her, only saying what she said previously again.

"Rifana-chan, please, can you stop?"

"The secret to the man's heart is through his stomach." Again, she repeated herself. How long was she going to keep saying that?

"Keel-kun, can you please tell her to stop?" Raphtalia turned to her other friend, seeking help so she could finally stop listening to the same advice that she had been seeing frequently on romance manga. It's not for advice, it's for… the sake of reading manga! She always did have a knack for reading manga. Romance being her favorite was too coincidental.

"You know how she is, Raphtalia-chan." Keel was of no help. Raphtalia's going to have to keep listening to Rifana's advice until the day is over. There was no way that Raphtalia was going to listen to Rifana's advice. She said that she should be friends at first, but that saying is only meant for when you're already in a relationship to please the man.

"Raphtalia-chan~." The teasing voice from Rifana started to leak out again. To this, Raphtalia only shivered as she knew that Rifana had noticed something off about Raphtalia.

"W-what, Rifana-chan?" She slowly turned to Rifana, quickly hiding something behind her back.

"Why are you desperately trying to hide your hands away from me, hm~?" Raphtalia needed to be quick. If she came up with an excuse, then she could stall herself for the time being. All she needed to do was think of-

"Raphtalia-chan, why do you have bandages on your fingers?" Keel was behind her as she asked her this.

Keel… why?

"Bandages on your fingers, huh? Well, I wonder why that is~?" Raphtalia blushed as she was filled with embarrassment.

"Raphtalia-chan, didn't you say that you were bad at cooking~? Hm, I wonder why you packed another lunch in your bag when I waited for you to come out of your house~?" It's no use in hiding it anymore. Piecing it together, Rifana instantly knew what Raphtalia had done.

"...Fine, you win." Raphtalia unhide her hands and showed her fingers that were covered in bandages. Well, of course, she was terrible at cooking.

"...I had help from my mother, but…"

"So you packed a lunch for him, didn't you, Raphtalia-chan?" Keel sounded a bit disappointed, but nevertheless, she was still starting to understand how Raphtalia feels on making friends with Naofumi. She didn't like him, but sometimes, friendship might require sacrifices…

"I… I did." Raphtalia answered quickly because she wanted to be honest. Anymore stalling would only lead to her getting teased even more by Rifana.

"The secret to the man's heart is through his stomach." Rifana said this again, only getting a groan from Raphtalia as a response.

"Raphtalia-chan, if you want to become friends with Naofumi, then you're going to have to have him break through his mask." Raphtalia was instantly confused upon hearing this.

"What does a mask have to do with this?"

"Raphtalia-chan, you poor girl. Have you been slacking on the romance manga that I've been giving you?"

"S-stop that! Just explain what you meant by that!" Rifana paused before answering her.

"People who aren't accustomed to their surroundings wear masks. They wear masks so they can hide their true-self behind it. Whether it's for protecting themselves or to fool someone; they wear masks so no one can point out their weakness. The same can be considered to Naofumi, Raphtalia-chan." Raphtalia was quiet, but she chose to continue listening to her.

"All that I'm saying, Raphtalia-chan, is that you're going to get behind his mask so you can get closer to him. Right now, he doesn't care about anyone in the school. But you can make a place in his heart for you if you can get passed that… arrogance that he has."

"And… you think food will help?" Raphtalia was blunt when speaking.

"It's a start." Rifana shrugged her shoulders as this was indeed a start to understand what Naofumi likes to eat.

"...Okay, I'll do it! If I can become friends with Naofumi-kun, then I'll be able to make a space in his cold heart for me!" With that, Raphtalia sped off to the school, leaving her two friends behind.

"Nailed it." Rifana congratulated herself as she continues to watch Raphtalia's figure disappear into the distance.

"You know, this might not work." Keel was doubtful enough to point this out to her. Of course, she cares for Raphtalia, but she doesn't see this plan actually working.

"Maybe not. But still, did you notice what she said? "Naofumi-kun" is a start for something to rise soon~." Keel only sighed as she didn't want to hear Rifana's teasing.

"When do you think she'll notice?"

"Well, right about…" As Rifana continued to stare at Raphtalia's figure, she noticed that she made a sudden stop.

"Now." Suddenly, Raphtalia's head was producing steam from out of her ears as she started to run towards the school once again.

"You're something, you know that, Rifana-chan?"

"Something would be better than nothing, right, Keel-kun?" Then, they started to walk towards the school, hoping that they weren't late as Raphtalia left them behind.

* * *

Now

Naofumi instantly noticed the bandages on her fingers. For once, it made her not look as perfect as people said she was. In her hands, was a bento box that was probably made for him. For once, Naofumi found himself widening his eyes because of this. If he remembers correctly, no one had ever done this for him before. Not even Malty, his ex-girlfriend had done something so… nice to him.

For whatever reason, he was hungry...

"Would you like to have lunch with me?" Raphtalia wanted to quickly bury herself because of the embarrassment she was feeling right now. Of course, he was going to say no, he said that before, so why would this attempt be any different?

Raphtalia's eyes were closed, but she was starting to feel the bento box that was in her hands start to slip out. Feeling it, she opened her eyes to see the bento box in Naofumi's hands.

He… actually took it?!

"...Why do this for me?" While his voice was still cold, he left out the harsh part of it so could ask with a clear mind. Raphtalia, who was shocked at the outcome of her attempt, stood there with an open mouth.

"Oi, are you listening?" His voice had snapped her out of her trance.

"O-oh, sorry, I… guess this was for us to become friends…" Naofumi's eyes instantly widened again as he heard the word 'friends' again. Not for a long time had he heard that word from someone else's mouth. For as long as he could remember, no one wanted to be his friend. He was alone ever since Malty… broke up with him.

...And so, he gave the bento box back to Raphtalia.

"No thanks, I'm not looking for a friend." Naofumi knew deep down that he had to say that. If he stood by her, not only will he be causing himself to be at risk again, but Raphtalia as well. How long has it been since he cared about anyone else other than his family?

"You won't… take it?" As she took it from his hands, Naofumi noticed her raccoon-like ears and tail drooped down. Why should he worry about her? She had been fine before she met him, so what makes this any different?

Her droopy ears and tail…

The bandages that were on her fingers…

The sad look she has when she took the bento box back…

His stomach growling…

"Tch, where are we going?" Naofumi took the bento back because he was hungry. Nothing else, and nothing more. If he didn't take it, then he was probably going to be starving until he bought a sandwich.

And those sandwiches never filled him up...

**(A/N)**

**Sorry if you don't like flashback-like of stories. This was only a one-time thing so please, understand where I'm going from. This was meant to be... cute? **


	5. Lunch on the Roof

**(A/N) **

**Ahem, well, it has come to my attention that I'm getting attached to this story. That is all, and I wish you all a good… night?**

Think. Think. Think. Raphtalia must think of her next move. She was successful when Naofumi took the bento box from her, but now, she has no idea what to do now. Naofumi had already eaten the food that she had made. It was nothing much but an omelet and salad. She didn't know what Naofumi liked for food, so it would've been best for her to start out small.

Oh boy, now, Raphtalia doesn't know what to do for the few minutes that they have for lunch.

Should she speak to him? What do you say to your crush at this kind of moment? "How was your day?" Or "How was the lunch that I provided to you?" She didn't really have a plan for when he's done eating the lunch that she gave him. Well, those were some of the sayings that Raphtalia thought of, but was too nervous to say to him. She can easily put up a smile to a stranger and ask how their day was going, but to Naofumi, she wishes that she could speak only a few words instead of the thousand that are bottled up inside her.

Now, they sat on the rooftop, with nothing else but the wind to hear at this cool afternoon.

Naofumi was sitting near the fence, where he could see the entire front of the school. There, he finds no one to set his eyes upon. Grateful, but still boring. School was beginning to become boring after the constant studying and hard work that he's been putting into school. He didn't have friends as anyone in the school would only glare at him with hateful eyes.

Humans would only loathe him for what he 'did' to Malty…]

Demi-Humans would glare because he's Human…

School wasn't a good source for socialization for him. His mother had constantly told him to try to make a friend that he could trust, but with all these people with fake masks, he happily declined the offer. Now, here he was, eating lunch with the Demi-Human's most favorable girl, Raphtalia.

Why does she want to speak to him? He doesn't know. All he knows is that he was grateful for the food. The sandwiches that were provided here was nowhere close to as good as what Raphtalia had made for him. If she had constantly made lunch for him-no, he shouldn't be thinking this. If he gets too close to someone, then that person would only suffer along with him. Why he doesn't want that? He doesn't know.

Great, only a few more minutes of lunch, and he would be alone to his own problems again. But that leads the problem: what does he do with Raphtalia? Sure, he was grateful for the food, but what can he do now? Talk to her? What should he even say? It's been too long since he's been able to talk to someone in a conversation. Now, all talking leads to is just violence. He needs a sip from his water for that.

"Um…" Raphtalia started, trying her best to not look at him in the eye. To that, Naofumi could only grip the water bottle tighter. This was the motion that nearly everyone does so that they pretend that hadn't seen him. He's been too used to this kind of treatment to simply ignore the motion.

Well, he couldn't this time because the water from the water bottle had splashed all over his face because he squeezed too hard…

"Ah! Are you alright?!" Raphtalia, instantly reacting, came to his side with a handkerchief. She'll admit it, she wasn't expecting him to do that. For what reason did he want to squeeze the water bottle so tightly? Now, his face was all wet and she had to clean-

"Ah! I-I'm sorry!" After noticing what she was doing, Raphtalia retreated from his personal space. Anymore closer, she wasn't going to control herself from wiping his face with the handkerchief. He wasn't going to hate her for this, was he?

"Huh? What are you talking about?" It seems that he didn't notice that Raphtalia was close to his face because he was too busy wiping his face from the water. Now, still covered in water, he stares at Raphtalia with a confused look.

"N-nothing! H-here, you can use this to wipe your face." With an embarrassed face, she extended out her hand to lend him her handkerchief.

"You don't need to, it's my fault after all." Naofumi was hesitant to take the cloth that Raphtalia wanted to give him. Was he suspicious to her kind behavior? Yes. Was she expecting something in return after the food that she had given him? He hopes not.

"I-it's fine. I don't have any problems with you using it." Raphtalia was worried about the words that were coming from her own mouth, but even then, she was grateful for it. She felt… so normal to speak her own mind out. Not matter how… embarrassing it is, she was grateful.

"...Thanks." Naofumi took the handkerchief and wiped his face. Even with his face dried, his clothes were a bit soaked. For that, there's nothing Raphtalia could do for him.

"Is it okay to ask why you… did that?" Raphtalia was curious, but nervous too.

"...It's too hot outside." That was all he said for an excuse as to why he soaked himself with water.

"A-ah, I see…" Raphtalia didn't want to pester him, but she was going to have to accept that. It was… cute for him to come up with an excuse like that. For that, she slightly giggled. Because of that, Naofumi looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What's so funny?" His question was harsh, causing Raphtalia to stop giggling in a second.

"N-nothing's funny! I was just… thinking of something that Rifana-chan said to me! Please don't hate me!" She was quick to come up with something, Naofumi could give her that. However, Rifana was someone he didn't know so he didn't think too much of it.

"Is that so…?" After he spoke those words, they could hear nothing but the wind again.

Raphtalia couldn't take the silence that was coming upon the both of them…

"So… how was the food?" Raphtalia's question had snapped Naofumi from whatever thoughts that he had before turning to her.

"...What do you want?" Suspicion was all that Naofumi could feel right now. He doesn't understand the reasoning as to why she made this food to him, so he had no choice but to ask what she wants from him.

"...Huh?" Raphtalia was confused by the random question that he had brought up.

"What do you want from me? There has to be something that you want from me."

"I-I don't want anything in return of this! I just… wanted to make some food for you, that's all!" Naofumi had a feeling that there was _actually _something behind her reasoning for making food for him.

"...I don't have anything of value in return." He was right, Naofumi didn't have anything in return to give to her. But even then, Raphtalia knew that there was something that she wanted from him.

"Well, there is one thing." Raphtalia had thought long and hard for what she wanted from him.

"...What is it? I told you already, I don't-" Raphtalia didn't want him to finish that sentence. Instead of there being nothing for him to give her, there was always _something _that one can give even if they have nothing.

"May you… continue to take the lunches that I make for you?" To that, Naofumi's eyes widened at the request that she had given him.

"What?" That was all he could come out with while his mind still processed what she asked him.

"I know that my cooking isn't good, but could you still take them?" Raphtalia was nervous enough for him to say no. She wants to become friends with him, but for some reason, there's something stopping her from asking that. She… needs to get closer to him in order for her to ask that. So, the only thing she could come up with is to ask him to continue to accept the food that she makes.

"...Why?" Naofumi was blunt when asking that. For what reason did she want him to continue to eat her food? Don't get him wrong, Naofumi found her food to be very good. Even if it wasn't that much, it was still good. However, she has to have some kind of other motive, right?

Right…?

"Because… I want to continue making food for you." That came from within Raphtalia's heart. If Rifana was right, then the actual secret to the man's heart is through his stomach. If she could continue to do that, then they could be friends in no time.

"...Class is about to start. I'll start to go ahead." Ignoring her reason as to why she wants him to eat her food, he stood up, and walked towards the rooftop door.

"Y-yeah…" Noticing that he didn't care for the reasoning, Raphtalia's ears drooped. She was… hoping that he would say yes. After all she's done in that bento, he still wouldn't accept her as a person. Maybe he doesn't want to be friends with her. Maybe he doesn't want anything to do with her.

Why was Raphtalia even trying to begin with…?

"It was good…" Raphtalia turned to the door where she heard Naofumi say something that was above a mutter. Even if it was a mutter, Raphtalia was going to hear him regardless. The raccoon ears on her head weren't for show. Everything that involved with her senses was enhanced because of the traits that being a Demi-Human grants you.

Because of her enhanced smell… it was hard to get the thought of how good he smelled when he was near her...

"Huh?" Naofumi stood with his back facing her. Because of that, Raphtalia doesn't know what kind of expression he had when saying that.

"I said…" Naofumi turned around, which caused Raphtalia to stare at him in shock. For whatever reason, her heart skipped a beat. It was a simple curve from his lips for everything that surrounded them to turn into nothing.

Naofumi's… smile had vaporized had gotten rid of the world that surrounded Raphtalia...

And all that Raphtalia cared about… was that it was only directed at her...

"The food was good." Raphtalia probably doesn't remember it, but this might be the first time that she was able to get this close to seeing how much of a… beautiful smile he had.

"U-Um…" Raphtalia didn't know what to say in the slightest bit. Because of his smile, the words that wanted to come out of her mouth hadn't come out.

"W-well, you don't have to always make lunch for me. I'll accept them, but only on days that I feel like it." Naofumi quickly turned around to hide his embarrassed face.

"Could we… continue talking like this? It feels… nice to speak to you like this." When Naofumi turned around to automatically say no, he was… shocked by the scene that was displayed before him. If they continued meeting each other, then that will only cause more problems for him and Raphtalia. He'll have trouble from both sides of the student population here.

Raphtalia's brown hair swayed in the wind, showing nothing but her blushing face…

Her tail, which starts to wag slowly, showing him how nervous she was to ask him that…

Her pink eyes, which hadn't met with his this entire time they spoke to one another…

Stared back at him…

*Doki!*

Naofumi felt something beat in his chest. He didn't know what made that sound, but something within his chest had started to come back to life. Something that Raphtalia had done to him, had made his chest start to feel… weird.

It felt… good, actually…

"S-sure…" Without even thinking, Naofumi's mouth had already opened to speak, regardless if he wanted it to happen or not.

"That's great!" Happy that he accepted, Raphtalia's tail had started to wag furiously. But even if he had noticed it, she didn't care. What did care for, however, was the fact that he accepted her… request to continue speaking with one another. Happy, she quickly grabbed her belongings and rushed to the door.

"So… I'll see you later?" Raphtalia asked, hoping that he accepted once again.

"Y-yeah..." Still, within his trance and wonder, Naofumi quickly accepted her request without putting much thought into his answer. Whatever Raphtalia put in his food, it made him feel weird. Why was he saying yes? Well, he doesn't know.

"That's great! I… hope to see you more often then." With that, Raphtalia rushes down the stairs with a red face and quickly went to class.

Naofumi only stared at the staircase as he wondered why he accepted her requests. Was he going to put in some thought to it? Yes. Was he going to ignore the feeling that he just had?

No.


	6. Give It Here

**(A/N) **

**Hey everyone, so for this to come out a bit late. I've been busy with my other story and I've been really lazy with time management. Quick question: now, I know people might hate for having this idea, but how do you all feel with the idea of having… a bit of romance with some of the other girls? Raphtalia and Naofumi will be the focus, but it'll be short moments with the other girls. Don't hate me for this, I'm just making something stupid up. Well, you can hate me for this as I would just scrap the idea entirely. **

**Enjoy the story. **

"All right everyone, it has come to the point and time that more clubs are starting to become available. Make sure you choose wisely and make sure that you all don't slack on your studies if you want to remain in that club. That will be all for today." With that, the math teacher left the room. Clubs. This was the part of the year that students seem to enjoy or hate.

Naofumi Iwatani only stared at the history teacher with dead eyes. This was the part of school that he was going to hate. Naofumi hated club activities. This wasn't because of the rumors that he had against him, no, it was because he never found club activities worth of his interest. He chose to skip out on the selections because he found his hobbies to be more worthwhile.

Having fun with others? Never part of the description when attending school.

He always found an excuse to say that he was either busy, or he wasn't interested when someone asked him to hang out. Yes, Naofumi Iwatani didn't have friends. Even in middle school, Naofumi didn't care to have the enjoyment of having friends. He always hesitated when it comes to getting close to someone that he didn't know. Trust wasn't something you could earn easily.

His hobbies were more important than others anyway…

"Raphtalia-chan, what kind of club are you planning on joining?" A Demi-Human girl that Naofumi didn't know, basically asked her what kind of interests she had. It wasn't one of the two Demi-Human friends that she had. So, basically speaking, Raphtalia might not know that girl either.

"W-well, I'm already in the Kendo Club…" That's right. Naofumi remembered that time where those two idiots decided on picking a fight with him, only for Raphtalia, who was wearing her gear, took one of them out. Naofumi can say that he was impressed. He wasn't that much of a fighter, but he can deal out a mean punch to someone's face. Now, that won't be the case if someone _actually _knew how to fight. He could only wonder what he could do if that time actually came.

Practice self-defense? But then, who could teach him how to learn self-defense? He could join some sort of a fighting club for tips, but because of his reputation, he wouldn't be able to walk through the doors without someone being there to point him out. They probably wouldn't even help him out anyway.

Maybe he should join a cooking club…?

Again, his reputation would only get in the way. If only he could reverse time to stop his past-self from ever talking to Bitch. Now, who's Bitch? Well, it's Malty Melromarc, of course. Because of his hate for her, he could only announce her as Bitch for now on. Saying her name would only make more fuel to the fire.

"Hello, Naofumi-kun." A feminine voice had stopped his train of thoughts. Now, who could it be this time that wanted to ruin his day? Turning to the person in question, he already knew who the person was.

...Rifan-something.

"Something you want?" As usual, he had to put on his cold and harsh voice to get any person away from him. However, Rifan-something decided on smiling at him. Okay, now she's just being creepy now.

"Nothing much. I'm just wondering what kind of club you'll be joining. Mind sharing?" Her smile was really starting to creep him out. Not once had he ever dealt with someone who smiled _this _much at him.

"No. Go away." With that, she started to move. Naofumi was grateful that he was able to convince her to move away from him. She was starting to become annoying so-

"Ah, that's much better." Hearing her voice to the right of him, he looked to see her sitting down on a chair next to him. Naofumi looked at her with a deadpanned expression.

"...Why are you still here?" A question that he immediately wanted to be answered.

"Hmm, because I want to?" Her voice sounded innocent, but behind that smile, was someone with weird intent. Naofumi shouldn't trust this girl…

"Really? Then I'm not talking to you because "I want to"."

"Oh~, don't be like that~! I only want to talk to the man that my friend has some interest in!" 'Friend' was a word that Naofumi had immediately reacted to. Naofumi knew she was friends with Raphtalia and that… other girl, so he doesn't know who she's talking about.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid, Naofumi-kun, you know _exactly _what I'm talking about." Adding 'kun' to his name was starting to annoy him. Since when did they start to become close? Even then, why was she even calling him by his first name? They weren't friends…

"I don't, so leave me alone." Naofumi started to glare at her because of his impatience.

"*Cough!*" Raphtalia had been standing in front of them for who knows how long. As she faked a cough, Naofumi and Rifan-something could see the visible blush that she had on her face. Next to her, was that other girl that Raphtalia talks to. She never mentioned her name to him so he doesn't care.

"Oh? Is there something you need, Raphtalia-chan? And is it _so _important that you needed to interrupt my conversation with Naofumi-kun?" Something tells Naofumi that he _should _stay away from this girl because she's… dangerous.

"W-well, since it's lunch, I was wondering if N-Naofumi-kun wanted to eat with us." Becoming a bit nervous, Raphtalia started to look around the room to avoid Naofumi's eyes.

Oh, she just made eye contact with him…

"Have lunch with us? Hmm, aren't you starting to become a bit bolder, Raphtalia-chan?" Naofumi didn't want to know the context, so he chose to ignore it.

"W-what are you talking about, Rifana-chan?! I'm just asking N-Naofumi-kun to eat lunch with us!" Raphtalia's face starts to glow even redder. She must be really nervous to ask him for lunch.

"Sure, sure. Keel-kun, what do you think? It must be hard for you since we understand that our cute Raphtalia-chan is growing!" Keel, who was having a glaring contest with Naofumi, glared towards Rifana.

"...Don't you even start with me. If Raphtalia-chan wants it, then it's fine with me. I'm just hoping that we don't have a problem with _Naofumi-kun_, right?" With that, she directed her glare at Naofumi.

"Yeah, you won't have a problem with me because _I _won't be there." Hearing this, Keel was already in Naofumi's face with a threatening look.

"Look, asshole, Raphtalia-chan spent her time and effort to make you some lunch, and you choose to ignore her?!" Showing her fangs, Keel already looked like she wanted to punch Naofumi in the face.

"Yup, and you're not going to stop me." With that, he started to get up from his seat and walked towards the door.

But not before he realized something…

"You mean… you're not going to take it? But… you promised…" Hearing Raphtalia's saddened voice, he turned around to see Raphtalia's droopy ears and saddened expression.

'_Kill me…' _Naofumi thought as he walked towards Raphtalia. As much as he wanted to ignore that… annoying expression, he can't seem to find a way to ignore her when she puts up that face. And with her ears and tail… it made it even worse for him…

"Give it here." Naofumi said as he extended his hand to her.

"H-Huh?" Raphtalia stuttered as she didn't expect him to eat lunch with her again.

"Are you just going to continue to sit there, or are you going to give the food?" With her brightened expression, she quickly went into her bag and brought out the food that she made for him. As he took it, he started to walk towards the door to everyone's surprise.

"I'll be waiting on the roof." With that Naofumi started to walk towards the roof. He could only imagine what sorts of problems that he was going to experience having Raphtalia around.

* * *

"Keel-kun, shoo." Rifana made a 'shoo' sound as if she was telling a dog to leave.

"What?! I'm not a dog, you know!" Keel's angry expression was starting to make Rifana laugh.

"Well, I need to speak to Raphtalia-chan, so can you please leave? Go ahead and meet Naofumi-kun on the roof. And DON'T cause a scene, please?" Keel's mouth met with the floor after she said that.

"You want me to go alone up there with HIM?!" Rifana and Raphtalia had covered their Demi-Human ears as Keel's voice was higher than normal. They were used to her screaming, but not to this extent.

"It won't be so bad, Keel-kun. All you have to do is wait up there for us to be finished talking. Trust me, since it's Raphtalia, it won't take long. Raphtalia's ears flinched when she was getting pointed out like that.

"What's that supposed to mean? What are you planning this time, Rifana-chan?" Raphtalia asked, wondering what kind of method of teasing she has in store for her.

"You'll see. Now, Keel-kun, hurry along so we'll start talking~!" Keel let out a long sigh before she started to walk out of the room.

"Fine, but don't blame if we fight up there, though." Hearing that, Raphtalia's ears flinched again. Not only that, but Raphtalia's tail lifted upwards as it became a bit more spikey.

"Don't. Think. Of. Doing. That. Keel-kun." With a menacing voice and glare that they never thought Raphtalia had, she shivered in fear.

"A-alright, I-I'll just wait up there for you then." With that, she quickly ran off to the rooftop. Rifana giggled as she watched Keel scurry off towards the rooftop.

"My, you must be _that _into him, Raphtalia-chan." The menacing glare had immediately disappeared as it was replaced with a blushing face.

"S-stop, teasing me, Rifan-chan!"

"Anyway, I wanted to talk about how bold you became, Raphtalia-chan." With the redness on her face, she cocked her head to the side as she was confused as to what she meant by that.

"What?"

"I mean, you're starting to put up the pouting face that you had when you were younger. You always made that face when you wanted to play with us when we were busy, Raphtalia-chan. Looks like it's taking effect on Naofumi-kun's heart." She giggled as she remembered those moments when they were younger. Those were the blissful days to Rifana.

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about!" Raphtalia didn't know that she was making the face to Naofumi, but because she's blushing, it made her seem like she knew.

"Don't do that, Raphtalia-chan. You know well what face you're making. Anywhoo, let's head up." With that, Rifana started to walk towards the door.

"Wait, you mean that's it?"

"What do you mean?" Rifana was playing innocent again. Something behind that innocent smile she had was nothing but trouble in Raphtalia's eyes.

"You told Keel-kun to leave so you could tease me?"

"Hmm, yup, pretty much." She smiled. Raphtalia wanted to smack her head as she had to deal with Rifana's teasing even more. And it was going to be even worse with all of them eating lunch together...


	7. She's My Backup

**(A/N) **

**Sorry for neglecting this a bit. Playing an MMO like Soul Worker is killing me. It's not tiring at all. It doesn't take most of my time at all. Especially when you're stuck at level 59 and trying your best to get to level 65 as it takes years to do it. Sigh… I really have to stop playing that game for now…**

**Better stick to mobile games… **

**I'm kidding…**

**Or am I…? **

Tests. Who loves them? Well, it's either someone loves them, or someone hates them. The 50 and 50 that makes a hundred are from two different sides. As there exist someone that loves one thing, there exists someone who hates that one thing. Here, we can say that there are two people who have different reactions to tests:

Raphtalia loves tests as she could always test the limits of her mind and see how well she could do. Whatever grade she got, she appreciated it. For that, will only see the kinds of things that she isn't good at. Fortunate for her, she ends up always getting high grades for all sorts of tests.

Naofumi hates tests as he would always waste his precious time studying for things that he would eventually end up forgetting. As he always kept his head in his book for making up bag grades in middle school, he started to find it repetitive. Well, that's the thing about learning that he didn't like.

"Raphtalia-chan, is there something wrong?" Keel noticed that Raphtalia was busy with something she didn't understand. Of course, she wouldn't understand what was wrong with Raphtalia because she was busy laying her head down onto her desk.

"Mmmm..." Raphtalia didn't have her head on her arms; no, her entire face was on her desk. For whatever reason, Keel found this odd because she hasn't been like this before. Sure, she had different ways of expressing her problems, but not like… this.

"Raphtalia-chan, I don't understand what "Mmmm" means. Can you please raise your head so you can speak to me about your problem?" Hearing her out, Raphtalia raised her head to show a huge red mark on her forehead that Keel tried her best to not laugh at.

"Keel-kun… what would you do if you forgot something _really _important?" Finding a way to control her laughter, Keel raised her eyebrow at her question. She didn't forget her lunch again because she remembered to make lunch for Naofumi. As much as Keel didn't like it, she had to force herself to deal with it.

"Um, I try to… remember it?" As if her question was cryptic, Keel scratched her head as she didn't really understand what she meant by that. At Rifana wasn't here to mess with her. God only knows where Rifana went. As soon as class ended, she immediately told us that she had _something _to do. Raphtalia and Keel only hoped that Rifana doesn't move from teasing to pranking.

"But that's the problem, Keel-kun! Even if you remember it, it only makes you want _not _want to forget!" Okay, whatever Raphtalia's talking about, it was started to make Keel even more confused.

"...What's the problem, Raphtalia?" Not wanting to get confused any longer, Keel wanted to get the point already. The more she listens to Raphtalia's weird logic, the more it makes her confused. And she _hates _being confused.

"There's a test next week, Keel-kun! I forgot to study!"

…

…

"Raphtalia-chan, it's Friday, you know that, right?" Indeed, it was Friday. It was the day that everyone in school longed for. After that day, it starts the weekend where everyone can enjoy the limited time they have in those two days. Sadly, for everyone in Raphtalia's class, they had a test that starts on Monday. And the test… was about Math.

"We only have two days, Keel-kun! Now I'm going to have to spend more time in my room than outside now!" If there was one thing that Raphtalia liked about going outside, it was the fact that she could spend most of her time with Rifana and Keel.

"And… there's nothing you could have done about that?" Keel knew that Raphtalia spends like 3-6 hours studying when there's a test coming up. Most of the time, she doesn't need to study because she mostly knows all of the subjects that need to be covered.

"Keel-kun, you don't study, do you?" Keel instantly flinched when she said that. Ouch, way to call her out, Raphtalia.

"H-hey I-I do! I just find studying to be… hard." To be honest with herself, Keel hated tests. Not only was it about studying, but it was also hard to remember all of the subjects that were needed to be remembered in order to get a good grade on it. How does Raphtalia remember all of those subjects in her head, anyway?! And so, because of Keel's… irresponsible studying habits, she barely gets a passing grade.

"Studying one day before the test isn't really studying, Keel-kun." Raphtalia blatantly pointed out her bad studying habits to her. To Raphtalia, even though she's her friend, she gets a bit disappointed with Keel's bad habits.

"All right, I'm back~! So what did I miss?" Before Keel had the chance to rebuttal, the class door had immediately opened to reveal a cheery Rifana. As soon as she came in, Keel and Raphtalia started to sweatdrop. Now, what kind of teasing would they have to endure now?

"Um, Raphtalia was talking to me about her bad memory that started to lead to her depression."

"Hey!" Rifana giggled as she heard Raphtalia's response.

"Well, it looks like the two of you are getting along as usual. Well, it's about time we start heading to our next class, right?" Rifana was right. After class ends, there's a little break for them so they could relax for a bit, and then go to their next class. As Raphtalia and Keel stood from their seats to go to the classroom door, they were stopped by Rifana's hand.

"Raphtalia-chan, I've noticed that you haven't been keeping up with your studies. Well, that can't be good, can it? Luckily, since it's come to my attention, that we should _all _go to Raphtalia's house and study there. Now wouldn't that be a great idea?" Rifana smiled as she said that. For Keel, she knew that smile all too well. That was the smile of when she did something that wasn't supposed to happen. Now, what did she do, they wonder…

"Oh, that's a great idea! If we're all there, then studying could be a lot more fun, and easier!" Raphtalia was automatically keen with the idea, as she was fine with the idea of hanging out with her friends over something that's really big.

"Yeah, we _all _get to enjoy ourselves there." Keel knew something wasn't right. For whatever reason, Rifana kept saying "all" too weirdly. Rifana _actually _did something she wasn't supposed to do, didn't she? As Raphtalia left to go to her next class, Keel could only glare at Rifana.

"What did you do?" That was Keel could ask. That's _all _she needed to ask as she knew something was clearly wrong here.

"Oh, nothing. We should get to class, shouldn't we?" She was giggling as she left to meet up with Raphtalia. Keel stood there for a while as she knew that something was _clearly _wrong here.

And Keel might not like the results when she finds out _what _Rifana did…

* * *

"Heya, Naofumi-kun." Rifana greeted Naofumi with a cheery smile that eventually went into a curved smile that Keel and Raphtalia knew all too well. Because he didn't know Rifana that well, he didn't actually care what it meant to him.

"What?" Same old Naofumi when he greets somebody that he doesn't want to talk to. But when it comes to Raphtalia and Rifana, he had no choice but to deal with their antics.

"So… you're coming, right?" Naofumi flinched as he knew all too well what she was talking about. He wanted to slap himself for even talking to her to begin with.

"And who said that? I only said yes so you could stop bothering me. You can't trust someone's word as they might have different intentions. Besides, why would I waste my time being with people that I-" As he was about to begin his speech about why he doesn't want to go hanging out with people that he doesn't care about, Raphtalia walked in the classroom right behind Rifana. To his surprise, Raphtalia's face was already red even before speaking to him.

And so, he looked at Rifana…

To Raphtalia…

To Rifana…

To Raphtalia…

And back to Rifana's smile. She's… made from pure evil, wasn't she…?

"What is this?" The moment Raphtalia walked in, he knew that he had no chance of talking back now. If he had to deal with Raphtalia's sad face one more-

"She's my backup plan. I knew you would try to say something like that, so… I brought me some backup!" Raphtalia nervously smiled as she waved to him. Naofumi wanted to bury himself right then and there.

"It's a pleasure having you, Naofumi-kun." Naofumi might end up killing himself when all of this was over...


	8. Calm Before The Storm

**(A/N) **

**Sorry for how long this took to come out. I've been busy with my other story "Together, We Rise Again", and it's been hard to keep thinking of cute things for this story. For now, I'll just keep looking up some cute school life manga that might give me an idea. I have the next three chapters planned out, but other than that, I got nothing. Anyway, have a good day everyone. **

Okay, this wasn't part of Naofumi's plans for the weekend. After school, he was _supposed _to go home, watch some anime, and play some games. Study was part of the plan, but because he knows a majority of what's going to be on the test, he would spend some time on it for a few minutes. It was a plain plan, but what else could he do to make it more interesting? Make friends? He wouldn't waste his time and energy trying to friend people he didn't care about. Just stay home, play games, and watch anime...

This was _supposed _to be his weekend…

For _every _weekend….

However, because of… Raphtalia, his plan could be considered ruined. No, it wasn't just her fault, it was because of Rifana, too. If she didn't pester him to join them in their... 'study session', he would've been home right now. He can only question his sanity as to why he decided to join them to begin with.

Oh, if only Naofumi remembered what 'secret weapon' Rifana had on him…

"Psst! Rifana-chan!" As the Demi-Human trio walks ahead of Naofumi, Raphtalia whispers to Rifana who was only right next to her. Naofumi's eyebrow twitched when she didn't notice that he could still hear her. What did they even have to whisper about?

"Raphtalia-chan, why are you whispering?" Naofumi's thoughts exactly as she whispered back to her.

"B-because," Raphtalia stole a glance at Naofumi before turning back to Rifana. Naofumi could _still _see _and _hear them! "...How'd you do it?" Whatever Raphtalia meant by "how'd you do it?", Naofumi had a feeling that it wasn't going to be good for him. It _always _wasn't good for him. Oh well, it didn't matter to Naofumi. Maybe he should… look at something else. He shouldn't have listen to their conversation.

Surely, there's something to look at...

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Rifana-chan… I think you know exactly what I mean." Raphtalia stares at her with a serious look.

However…

"Nope. I don't have any clue as to what you're talking about."

"...Rifana-chan, how did you convince Naofumi to… j-join us?"

"Oh! You mean _that_! But still, I don't have a clue what you're talking about." Forgetting to whisper, Rifana starts to converse with her usual tone of voice. Playful in the outside, but evil on the inside.

"...Rifana-chan."

...How many Demi-Humans and Humans did they walk past that gave them a weird look? He knows that people could act weird from time to time, but those looks were… very weird. It wasn't something he shouldn't say that he wasn't used to, but still, why did they have to direct them to Raphtalia and her friends as well?

Disgusting and… hateful looks?

No, Naofumi knew exactly why they were getting those looks. It was a reaction that he had expected from the moment he decided to stick with them. Demi-Humans and Humans doesn't seem to get along with one another. Worse than that, they hate each other. Now, even if they hated each other, imagine their surprise when they saw a Human and three Demi-Humans walking around like friends? For whatever reason, Keel, who had noticed the stares, looked saddened. Well, it didn't matter to Naofumi, so why should he care?

Such a stupid and cruel world Naofumi had to deal with…

They could take their stares and shove it…

While Demi-Humans and Humans shouldn't be fighting like this in the first place, Naofumi only had a reason to hate other Humans: because of their 'precious princess'. Because of _her_, Humans from the school started to hate and disrespect him. He didn't deserve this kind of treatment from others! He should-no, this was not the time and place to think of something that pisses him off. He needed something to keep his mind off of people.

"We're here, Naofumi-kun!" Suddenly appearing in front of his face, Rifana smacks his cheeks with her hands.

"Don't. Do. That. Again." Perhaps it was his fault that he hadn't noticed that they were already there, but even so, Naofumi did not like being touched by others.

"Sorry, sorry. You dozed off for a bit there. Anyway, welcome to Raphtalia-chan's home!" She raised her hands and posed as if she was presenting something amazing; however, unknown to her, she was getting a heated look from Raphtalia.

"Yes, it's a house; and it's Raphtalia's…" Naofumi looked at her with a deadpan look. Why was she even doing that to begin with?

"Ahem, this is Raphtalia-chan's house!" Again, she posed to make sure Naofumi was seeing the invisible picture being presented to him. Naofumi only crossed his arms to this.

"..."

"..." Forgetting the reason to glare at Rifana, Raphtalia looks at Keel to see if she knows something about what she's doing, but sadly, Keel only shook her head. To that response, Raphtalia walked to her front door to open it.

"..."

"...Nothing, huh?"

"What are you getting at?"

"...Boy, you're dense." Rifana initially gave up on trying to show Naofumi what she was looking at and smacked her forehead.

"What was that?!" What was she seeing that he couldn't see? Whatever it was, it was stupid because she just randomly insulted him for no reason. This woman was truly… evil.

Hmm? Was it starting to rain…?

"Coming in!" As the door unlocked, Raphtalia announced her arrival…

"Raphtalia! How was school? Nothing happened when coming here, right? How's Rifana-chan and Keel-kun? Did they-" Taking a few steps, she was instantly bombarded with questions from her father. Before she could answer a single question, a frying pan was instantly rewarded to her father's head.

"Ow! Honey, what was that for?!" Feeling the bump on his head, he turned around to see his wife holding a frying pan with a smile. Raphtalia already knew that her smile wasn't that of a happy one.

"Dear, please stop bothering her when she comes home. Give her some time to settle in first."

"But it's a father's job to wonder about her daughter's safety! I'll be damned to hear that someone dared to lay a finger on her! If I see a single bruise on her body, I'm going to walk with Raphtalia to school and back!" With a fist raised high, he had the determination to keep his daughter safe.

"You will do no such thing, Dear. I'm sure Raphtalia is able to protect herself from harm's way."

"Hmph! Harm won't know what's coming to him when I get a piece of him!" Raphtalia, Rifana and Keel could only laugh nervously as they watched the two interact with each other. Ah, such a normal day for Raphtalia. Well, it won't be because of-

"Father, Mother, I… would like permission for something." The moment she said that, her father's mood changed instantly. Quickly moving to a nearby couch, her father patted his lap.

"Come, Raphtalia. Sit on my lap and we'll talk about your problems like we did when you were younger." In reaction to that, he was rewarded with another frying pan to the head. Raphtalia's face reddened as she couldn't find a way to hide her embarrassment. Such a weird father she has…

"Dear, Raphtalia's older than you think. I'm sure she doesn't need to sit on your lap and discuss her problems anymore." As she held the frying pan, smoke started to come from it.

"B-but, H-Honey, when does she ever ask us for permission at this age?! If anything, this calls for a family meeting! If we discuss this like a family, then we should have no-"

"Can I please study with my friends?!" Raphtalia wanted her father to stop the weird things that he was saying. And so, for an attempt to quiet him, she yelled out what she wanted to do.

"Study? Is that all? Of course, Sweety, you can study with your friends. We don't have a problem with Rifana-chan nor Keel-kun." Her mom walked over to her and settled her hands on her shoulders.

"U-um, I know that the both of you don't have any problems with them, but it's… complicated." Her mother's eyebrow raised as she didn't know what Raphtalia meant by that. Raphtalia's face reddened when she couldn't find the words tha

"Is there something wrong?" Her mother knew that something was up since Raphtalia started to blush like that.

"Well… it's just that-"

"Raphtalia invited her crush to join us!"

"Rifana-chan!" Rifana _had _to be the one who speaks out of nowhere. Because of her… random announcement, Raphtalia's plan to try to make them understand who Naofumi was, had been ruined! Now, it's all left to her parents reactions…

"Oh? Is that all?" Her mother didn't seem to be fazed by her announcement. For whatever reason, she didn't have a single problem with what Rifana had said.

"Eh?" Raphtalia looked like her entire life had been ruined in a single moment.

"Crush, you say?" Hearing the word 'crush', her father instantly stood up and walked up to Raphtalia with his face being covered by his bangs. Okay, Raphtalia's mother seemed fine with the idea, but her father… could be a different story.

"I'm so proud of you, Raphtalia!" Without any warning, her father hugged her and started to cry.

"Eh?" Again, that was all Raphtalia could say…

"Do you know how long it took your mother to ask me for a study session?! I can't remember, but it took a very long time! You're already moving ahead of your mother!" Again, he was greeted with a frying pan to the head. Becoming used to it, he wasn't fazed.

"Raphtalia, please tell your mother to stop hitting me…" He says this while he still had Raphtalia in his arms.

"I can't, Father. Sometimes… you kind of deserve it…" Her father finally stopped hugging her after hearing her say that.

"...The both of you are too cruel. But still, it's rare for Raphtalia to befriend a male. Anyway, where's the lucky guy?! I want to meet the man who's caught my daughter's interest! Someone, bring him to me!" As if he was some sort of leader, he called out an order to bring Naofumi to him.

"Here he is!" Pulling Naofumi in the house, Rifana smiles happily. Raphtalia could only blush in embarrassment because of two reasons: her crush is in her house, and he's going to speak with her parents. Was this supposed to be a good day for Raphtalia?

"Hey, you don't have to pull me!" Being a bit resilient, he pulled back his arm. What kind of strength does Rifana have if she could easily pull Naofumi?

"Ahem, like I said, here he is!" Stepping back a bit, Naofumi was now the center of attention. It was like that for Raphtalia ever since she first met him. He always stood out from the other guys that attend Melromarc High.

"So you're… 'the guy', huh?" Stepping closer to Naofumi, her father looks at him with a fierce look. Hopefully, her father doesn't think too ill of Naofumi.

"S-sorry, Naofumi Iwatani, Sir." With manners, he bowed before her father. Raphtalia could only become a bit more nervous as each second passes.

"Hmm…" Touching Naofumi's face, her father moves Naofumi's head from side to side as if he was looking for something. Wait, it couldn't be because of-

"You're… Human?" Raphtalia's mood had instantly dropped. She totally forgot something very important! Naofumi Iwatani was Human! She didn't know how her family felt about Humans, but…

"Y-yes, Sir." By the tone of his voice, Raphtalia could tell that he showed a small sign of being nervous.

"...Okay. Be sure to not do something that you'll regret, alright?"

"You're… not going to kick me out? I'm Human."

"Of course not! Why would I do that?! If I kicked you out, I'm going to deal with my wife's aggression! And plus, I'll be going against my daughter's wishes! There's no way in hell I'll do that!" He laughed as he put his hand on Naofumi's shoulder.

"Listen, I know what you're thinking, and I understand. If you don't have any problems with Demi-Humans, then I don't have any problems with jack-"

"Dear, Raphtalia and her friends are in the room." Hiding a pan behind her back, she smiles.

"-jerks that are Humans. No offense. You can come back as long as you like; as long as you don't hurt my precious daughter, you hear?" Naofumi nodded slowly as he understood every word that her father told him.

"Now, let me tell you a story of how aggressive a Demi-Human can be. Especially when they are close to their mates if you know what I mean. Now, like my wife, Raphtalia can be sometimes-"

"Dear, how about we meet in the kitchen so I can show how aggressive I can be? Please, right now, please." Raphtalia's face paled when she heard her mother say "please" twice. Whenever she said "please" twice, it only meant that her father might be in big trouble…

Hint: he actually is…

"B-but, H-Honey, I'm kind of-"

"Now." Her lips curved even more, almost showing her fangs that she desperately wanted her husband to fear.

"C-coming, Honey…" With that, he left Naofumi's side and walked to the kitchen. Who knows what her mother was going to do to her father.

"You all have a nice time, alright? Iwatani-kun, right? Please, take care of my daughter for us, okay?" As she turned around to show the aggressive grip she had the frying pan that was hidden behind her back. She looks to be _very _angry at her husband.

"O-okay, Ma'm." It didn't look like Naofumi knew what she was talking about, and for that, Raphtalia's secret is safe. She can only pray that her secret will remain safe for all she cares. She prayed for her father's safety, too.

"Oh, and before I forget, there's going to be thunderstorms all day! Iwatani-kun, we have a guest room that you can use for today, is that fine?"

"All day?! W-well, you don't have to since I'll be gone before it starts to become a problem." And in a second, thunder was the only thing everyone could hear. Because of how sudden it was, Raphtalia jumped with her tail becoming straight. To his refusal, her mother's ears start to droop like a certain someone Naofumi knew.

"You won't? Since it's coming down hard, you might catch a cold…" Naofumi clamped his mouth shut as if he was trying to hold down a yawn.

"It's okay, seriously, I won't catch a cold so easily and-"

"Please?" Is it strange for Raphtalia to feel like she's seen this before? Well, probably not before, but it's like… watching herself speak to Naofumi…

"...Fine."

"Splendid! We'll be seeing you in the morning, then!" With that, she disappeared into the kitchen. God only knows what's happening to her father…

"Say, Raphtalia-chan…" After a moment of silence, Keel had been the first to say something. Stealing a glance at Naofumi, he is seen with his hand covering his eyes. Was he… disappointed that he was going to have to stay here for the night?

"Yes, Keel-kun?" Without taking her eyes off of Naofumi, she answers Keel.

"Aren't you afraid of thunder?" And just like that, Raphtalia's day _might _be ruined...


	9. In A Closed Space

**(A/N) **

**Sorry for neglecting this story for a while. Now that I'm back, I'm going to focus on making longer chapters, enjoy! Oh, and before I forget, there will be some more characters from the series that are going to be appearing soon. **

Tap, tap, tap, tap. Those were the sounds of the rain hitting against the window of Raphtalia's room. That was all that could be heard as it was quiet in the room. No one made a single sound since walking inside Raphtalia's room. For them to all study, because she didn't have anything for a surface to work on, she had brought up a futon for them to put their work on. It wasn't the best of ideas, but at least they're able to write on it.

'_Why… why isn't anyone talking?!' _As Raphtalia looks up from her notebook to look at everyone else, her face started to redden because of the quietness in the room. Keel had been busy playing with a pencil by putting it on her nose to see if she could balance it out, Rifana had started to read some manga, and Naofumi was focusing on his studies as much as Raphtalia. Taking a glance from the textbook, he wrote anything that will come to value that might be on the test.

"...Are you going to staring at me, or are you going to study?" Noticing the glances that Raphtalia had on him, he questions what she was trying to do. Upon being noticed, Raphtalia's cheeks start to redden out of embarrassment.

"I-I was just… s-sorry!" Putting her head back into the book, she tried to maintain her focus on her textbook, she couldn't help but feel Naofumi stare at her. As she looked up after a couple of seconds have gone by, she noticed that Naofumi's eyes had directed back to his textbook.

'_Was he… staring at me? But… for how long?' _Raphtalia had noticed that his pencil in his hand hadn't moved for that second when he looked back into the textbook, so she knew that Naofumi was INDEED staring at her. Feeling her heart started to race a bit, she looked back to the textbook to find something to get her mind off of things.

"Say, where's the bathroom?" As Naofumi put down his pencil to look up at Raphtalia, everyone had stopped what they were doing to look at Naofumi. Rifana quickly closed her manga book quickly, Keel's pencil had fallen from her nose, and Raphtalia put her pencil down as well.

"O-Oh, it's...three doors to the right when you exit my room." As they were upstairs, that was where the bathroom was located.

"Thanks, I'll be back in a second." Opening Raphtalia's door, he looked to the right and left the room. With the door closing, Rifana had instantly opened her manga book back open.

"Okay, we only have a few minutes, Raphtalia-chan, so I'll make this quick! I've written down some things that you can say to him that'll start a conversation with him! Hurry and read these!" Quickly taking out a folded piece of paper from her manga book, she handed it to Raphtalia who looked at it with a confused look.

"Ask him what kind of girl he's interested in?! Ask him what kind of life he had before high school?! Rifana-chan, why do I have to-"

"Raphtalia-chan, I didn't have enough time to think of anything else than that! That's all I have! If you want to get closer to him, then you're going to have to make him comfortable!"

"The whole purpose to make him comfortable is to NOT ask him stuff like this!"

"This is stupid…" Not having anything else to do, Keel walked towards the window and began to watch the rain poured down outside.

"Okay, then you think of something to start a conversation with him! We don't have enough time Raphtalia, I heard the bathroom door closed! Oh, and pretend that you don't know an answer to a question or something like that!" Raphtalia wondered why she would ever come up with something like that.

"B-but-!"

"I'm back, I'll just keep studying now…" As the door opened to reveal Naofumi, he sat back down onto the pillow and went back to studying.

"Oh, boy, did you hear my stomach? I guess me and Keel-kun should probably find something for all of us to eat! We'll be right back, guys!"

"What?! Why do I have to go?!" As Rifana took and pulled on Keel's arm, Keel complained as to why she was being brought with her.

"Because I ASKED you to! So let's go!" Raphtalia stared at Rifana with an odd look because of two reasons: one, she didn't ask Keel to come with her, she's basically forcing her, and two, they're both leaving her with Naofumi!

'_Rifana-chan! I can't do this on my own! Don't leave me like this!' _As Raphtalia shot Rifana a pleading look, Rifana only gave her a thumbs-up for her chances. After that, after opening the door and leaving, it was slammed shut.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. Again, that was the only thing that could be heard as Raphtalia and Naofumi continued to study to themselves…

'_Rifana-chan! How am I supposed to start talking to him?! I can't just-'_

"Hey, are you okay? You're staring at me again. Is there something you need?" After hearing Naofumi's voice, Raphtalia's thoughts were interrupted for the better or the worse…

"H-huh?! I-I just… I'm just having a bit of trouble with this question, that's all!" Without thinking straight, she blurted out anything she could use as an excuse. Turns out, she used the idea that Rifana had for her without even realizing it after saying it…

"So… you chose to look at me?" Not understanding the reason why she was staring at her, his eyebrow was raised upwards.

"I… was just trying to calm myself down because of how upsetting myself! Y-yeah, math really starts to be a pain when you don't understand anything, right?! I didn't mean to look at you!" Naofumi continued to look at her as if she did something odd, only for her to blush madly out of embarrassment.

"...You need help, don't you?" Naofumi's question had managed to spark something within Raphtalia.

"Yes! I mean, could you please assist me with this problem?" Managing to compose herself, Raphtalia hadn't thought that Rifana's idea would've worked. As much as she didn't want to use one of her ideas, she basically spurted out anything that came to mind, which was the 'pretend I don't know this question act'. As Naofumi stood up from the pillow that he was sitting on, and walked over to her side of the futon. Sitting down on her side, from his angle, he couldn't see the problem from all its entirety, so he had to get a bit closer to Raphtalia to see what the problem was.

They were at each other's breathing space...

"Okay, what do you need help on? This problem? Oh, all you need to do is…" Raphtalia couldn't make out any other words that Naofumi were saying because of how distracted she was.

'_W-what comes next?! W-why is he so close to me?!' _Like the romantic mangas that she read, nearly most of them had this familiar scene where the girl and guy are at each other's breathing space. Raphtalia hadn't imagined that she was the one who was going to be in this scene…

"Hey, are you listening?" Snapping out of her thoughts because of Naofumi's voice, she looked back at him, which she could clearly see that he had a small tint of red on his cheeks. Because of how close they were, Raphtalia was able to see it for all its glory.

"H-huh?! Y-yeah! I'm listening!" Raphtalia had begun to start answering the problem without any effort because she already knew the answer to the problem. The 'pretend I don't know this problem act' was basically working if she say, at least. They were able to speak to each other, at least that's good, right?

"..." Naofumi watched her complete the question with a bland expression. After that, he noticed that Raphtalia's tail was wagging nonstop. Surely, he didn't notice what Raphtalia was doing, right?

"I-is there something wrong, Naofumi-kun?" She was curious to know why he had continued to watch her write the answer down quickly, but she noticed that he wasn't paying attention that well.

"Huh? No, I'm fine…" After saying that, he went back into looking into his textbook. The way Naofumi trailed off his sentence had made Raphtalia think otherwise.

"Are… you sure? Do you… want to talk about it?" Raphtalia felt like she was already making him uncomfortable by invading his personal space. But… she had to try, right? She didn't want him to feel uncomfortable by not having him express what he was feeling…

"...Why do you care?" It wasn't cold nor harsh, it was a general question.

"Because… I know that you're having problems in school and I just-"

"Listen, don't worry about what happens to me in school. Just worry about yourself if you know what's good for you." Raphtalia's ears had drooped after hearing him say that.

'_...How long has it been since he had talked to someone? Talk to someone about his feelings? I… shouldn't have asked him that...' _Since the moment she laid eyes on him, she knew that Naofumi's school life was a living disaster. Sitting by himself all the time, dealing with bullies, dealing with rumors, his entire life had been turned upside down because of… Malty, was it?

"Sorry… I'll get back to work now…" Raphtalia was initially right in the beginning about not wanting to make him uncomfortable. Not wanting to push the situation further, she went back to writing down things that might be on the test. Of course, because of smart she was, she didn't need to write down notes; she knew everything about math to begin with…

"..." Raphtalia's tail began to shift from side to side as she continued to write down anything that she sees in the textbook...

"..." Naofumi moved a bit of his hair out of his face so he could see what he was writing…

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

"So…"

"So…" They both spoke at the same time as they were about to bring up a conversation. After noticing that she looked up at each other in the eye, Raphtalia diverted her attention away from him with a blush…

"S-sorry, you first…" After telling him to go first, Raphtalia sat her pencil down so she give him her utmost attention. If she could at least show him that she's giving him her entire attention, then it will show that she's willing to hear him out. The problem was to look at him in the eye without losing her composure…

"...So, you like manga, huh?" Looking up at her bookshelf of her collection of manga, he pointed it out to her. She was a romantic manga collector; was there something wrong with that?

"Y-yes! My favorite genre is romance because…" She didn't want to say the words that were going to be said without her thinking that much into it. If she said them, then who knows what would happen?

"Because… what? You have a reason to read romance manga?" Naofumi seemed curious as to know the reason why she would want to read manga like romance. No, if it was true that her favorite manga genre was romance, then EVERYTHING on the shelf was about romance. That couldn't be the case, right?

"No! It's just that… I'm interested in romance, that's all! The character development between two characters as they start to like each other is something I enjoy! I don't have any other reason than that! A-anyway, do you read manga, Naofumi-kun?" Her question had made Naofumi close his eyes for a second.

'_Did I… upset him? I didn't mean to! I was just trying to-' _

"Yeah… but I can't say that I have a favorite genre…" Raphtalia's mouth opened slightly as she heard the reason as to why he reads manga. To be honest, Raphtalia didn't expect Naofumi to read manga. He… doesn't look like the type who would waste his time reading manga. But then, what does Raphtalia know? She was always observing him from afar so she doesn't know everything about him.

"I'm… sure that you have at least one favorite genre! I mean, there are so many genres out there! Think about the reason why you first started to read manga! Was it curiosity?" It looked as if Raphtalia was saying this to have him reveal some of his past, but she didn't notice it. Her curiousness as to why he started to read manga was the only thing she could think of, right now.

"Well… I don't really remember how long I've been reading them. But… if I should say anything… it was kind of like a feeling of escapism…"

'_Escapism? He reads manga to… escape from reality? That's… so sad…' _Raphtalia was saddened with the fact that Naofumi basically reads manga as a sense of escaping reality. There are a lot of people out there who read manga and watch anime as a sense of an escape from the real world. They had been tired with the reality that they're facing, so they had to come up with something that can have them get rid of the thoughts of reality. And it turned out to be manga and anime. As sad as it was, Naofumi didn't appear to be an exception to this. His school life must've been so bad that he had to use manga as his only source of escaping the truth called reality…

"I remember a time where my parents didn't like the idea of me just lazing around my house all day just reading manga and watching anime, so they tried to make me come out of that closure. I put my studies behind me and started to focus on what I truly liked. I was stubborn back then, so I didn't want to listen to them. Eventually, they gave up on me and started to focus on my little brother. I was spoiled, so they didn't really want to bother me that much when it came to what I want to do after that. However, just like me back then, he didn't like studying because he had too much pressure on his hands. Because of it, he turned to be a troubled teen without a path in life. Because of me, my little brother didn't have the freedom that he wanted as well, which led him to that path. Wanting to solve his problems, I showed him anime and manga. Eventually, he became an otaku as a means of calming his stress. Because he found a way to calm his stress, I decided on getting back to my studies. Even then, I still had some trouble with-wait, why am I saying this crap? Nevermind me, you can… go back to whatever you were working on before…"

"..." Until the point where he wanted to diss his own problems, Raphtalia sat quietly and listened about his past. Some can say consider that he was a troubled child, but Raphtalia only sees that as a means that he's lost. He wasn't lost without a path…

...He was lost because he didn't have anyone to help him choose any direction but himself. The only path he took was to move forward; no matter what, he chose to do so on his own. Now, that wouldn't be a problem as sometimes, as choosing your own path is your decision, but how long did it take for him to do so? Did he have anything stopping him from moving forward? Or… was he too used to his troubles that he had no choice but to go forward?

"Naofumi-kun… there's nothing wrong with expressing your emotions. I… shouldn't say this but me, Rifana-chan, and possibly Keel-kun are willing to hear you out of your troubles…" Because of his troubles, Raphtalia wanted to say that to him. She didn't care if he would just ignore it, but she wanted him to know that they were there for him.

"...Why? Why try and affiliate yourselves with someone like me? I'm sure you know that I'm not exactly the friendliest of people, so why talk to me? No, never mind that, how long have you been watching me?" Raphtalia's face started to feel hotter as he basically told her that he knew that she was watching him.

"Um… what do you mean by that?! I-I haven't been watching y-you!" Raphtalia wanted to refuse the accusation even when she knew that it was true, but she found it embarrassing that he knew that she was watching him.

"Cut the crap, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Why the sudden interest in trying to talk to me out of nowhere? Why the sudden decision on making lunch for me? What about me made you become interested in me?" Hearing the word 'interested', Raphtalia began to blush madly. Thinking the word 'interested' was as a means of romantic feelings, she couldn't help but blush. However, Naofumi used that word as a means for why did she want to talk to him in the first place…

"'I-interested'?! It was just that… because I saw how… lonely you were, I couldn't help but want to talk to you! I just didn't want you to be lonely for the time you remained in our school, that's all! I believed that… behind that cold and hardened face of yours… there was someone who was once a kind and gentle person!" Without realizing it, Raphtalia started to sputter out the reason why she first wanted to start to talk to him without hesitation. She could've tried countless of times before, but she was too shy to do so. Naofumi started to back away a bit when he noticed that after every sentence that she said she started getting closer and closer to him. He felt his face begin to grow a tingling feeling, but he chose to think naught of it. Some of those words, however… were the cause of the tingle, too.

*BOOM!*

"Eep!" Hearing the sudden thunder, Raphtalia had glomped onto Naofumi as she was scared of thunder. However, Naofumi found it odd that someone who's part of the Kendo Club was scared of something like thunder. He could feel her shaking form on top of him as she was… ahem, straddling him a bit, but he knew that it was out of fear. He had gotten used to this because his little brother was once afraid of thunder. He felt a tingle on his cheeks again, but he chose to ignore it as he wanted to do something for her that he once did to his little brother…

He began to rub the top of Raphtalia's head…

"Huh?" Feeling Naofumi begin to rub the top of her head, she was confused at first. Why was he doing this? "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" As if she hadn't noticed it, Raphtalia instantly got off of him and began to crawl away from him in a funny manner. She hated being afraid of thunder! She was afraid of it when she was a child, and she still was! Closing her eyes a bit, she internally started to punch her head. He was going to think she was weird, right? He was probably going to start hating her, right?

"Kuh!"

'_Huh? What was that? Was that… laughter?'_ Looking back at him, she could see that she was looking back at her with a bland expression.

"What, something on my face?" Naofumi had asked her this as if there was nothing wrong. Raphtalia wasn't imagining things, right? Surely, Naofumi didn't laugh, right? It was only a second, but Raphtalia was sure that she heard something along the lines of laughter a second ago.

"Naofumi-kun… did you just-" Before she could finish her sentence, the door to her room had suddenly burst open to reveal Rifana and Keel holding a tray of cookies and tea.

"We're back~! Did we miss anything? Huh? What's going on here?" In a single second, Raphtalia and Naofumi were back to the spot they were originally as if they hadn't moved at all. From what Rifana and Keel could see, is that Raphtalia's hair had been tangled into a mess a bit…

"N-nothing! Don't worry about it! Did you make tea and cookies for us?!" Not wanting to be teased by her, Raphtalia wanted to hurry and bring up something else so Rifana didn't catch on to what just happened.

"Cookies and tea? It took both of you THIS long to come back with them?" Naofumi didn't seem upset, but it was like… it was almost playful?

"Hey, if you think you can bake cookies and make tea faster than us, then I'd like to see you try!" Keel was the first to respond to Naofumi's somewhat rudeness. To her surprise, Naofumi looked at her with a challenging grin?

"Is that a challenge?" Naofumi asked, standing up a bit. Raphtalia found it odd that… Naofumi was starting to express himself a bit more? Had… the conversation they talked about caused him to act like this?

"Yeah, let's see who can make tea and cookies the fastest, then!" Keel was all up for the challenge, but what Raphtalia knew about Keel, was that she was bad at cooking and baking. This challenge might be one-sided if Naofumi knows how to bake…

"All right, it's settled, then!" Clapping her hands, Rifana managed to get the attention of everyone in the room, including Naofumi.

"What is it, Rifana-chan?" Upon saying those words, Raphtalia had a feeling in the back of her head that it wasn't good…

"Let's all go out tomorrow! Shopping, play around, we'll do anything we want tomorrow! No more studying, it'll just be the four of us!"

"Eh!" Everyone was flabbergasted as to what Rifana had just said. Turning to Rifana, all she could see that Rifana was making a teasing grin at her while she pointed to the futon…

It was out of place.

It had been moved from its original spot because of how fast they had to get back to the futon and act like nothing was wrong.

Raphtalia could blush and look somewhere else as she didn't want to see Rifana's teasing face.

'_Why me?!'_


	10. Thank You

"Is everyone ready to go?!" As everyone was outside waiting for their last person to arrive, who was Rifana. It was the early morning of Saturday as it was a day that everyone loves. Rifana was wearing a pink dress with frills at the bottom, Keel was just wearing black jeans and a black shirt, while Raphtalia and Naofumi…

Were wearing their school uniforms…?

"Y-yes!" Raphtalia's tail was wagging that showed how excited she was to hang out with her friends and… Naofumi.

"Sure, I guess…" Keel crossed her arms as she wanted to get this over with. She doesn't hate hanging around with her friends, but when was Naofumi supposed to be their friend? Keel still didn't understand what Raphtalia liked about Naofumi, but she still doesn't like him.

"Why did I agree to this?" Naofumi also crossed his arms as he looked at something else that would get his attention. Seeing them, Rifana looked at Raphtalia and Naofumi with an amazed expression.

"GASP! How could you two come out of your houses looking like… like… like that!" As if she had seen something hideous, she covers her eyes as she points out their school uniforms.

"Oi, you do realize that you also wear this uniform to school, right?" Naofumi looked annoyed as he continued to stare at Rifana cover her eyes.

"Rifana-chan… that's just mean…" Raphtalia pouted as this was her reaction to Rifana's over exaggerated teasing.

"But still, we all walked to everyone's houses! Well, except Naofumi-kuns… but still! Raphtalia-chan, why didn't you pick out anything to wear?! You would at least bring a hoodie with you! Or… is it because…" As her teasing grin came out, Raphtalia was quick to her feet to cover Rifana's mouth.

"W-what are you talking about? Does anyone know what she's talking about? I don't know what she's talking about!" Raphtalia's frantic speaking manner had made Naofumi and Keel's eyebrow to be raised. Left for Naofumi and right for Keel…

"Yeah, as if I'm going to let you guys follow me to my house. I'm not trying to get annoyed everyday, after all." Keel looked at him with a sharpened glare.

"AS IF anyone would want to follow you to your house!"

"Hey, are you upset that I won that baking battle? You shouldn't have underestimated someone who's been baking and cooking for a few years!" Saying that had made Keel's face overheated.

"What did you say! I'd admit that you're a worthy opponent, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to sit back and take that loss! One day, I'll be sure to beat your baking!" The baking battle they had this morning was one-sided as expected. Naofumi one with some delicious cookies, while Keel… failed miserably. However, she would use her mistakes and fix them to make something better than Naofumi's!

"My, aren't you two acting like a married couple?!" After Raphtalia let go of Rifana's mouth, she took this as an advantage for another teasing session. Little did she know… she's barking up the wrong trees. Especially when the two stumps refuse to grow…

"We are not married!" "What did you say?!" "They are not married!"

'_Scary…!' _As Rifana heard all of them speak at once, she could only nervously laugh. They all had angry expressions glaring towards her.

"I-I guess my eyes were deceiving me! A-anyway, let's go to the first stop! And that's the clothing store!" Pumping her fist up, she noticed that no one was as excited as they were before. Well, Raphtalia was once excited, but remembering that she had to deal with Rifana's constant teasing, this wasn't going to be a good day for her.

"What? Why do we have to go there?" Naofumi was the first to ask because he didn't find it to be necessary. Why DO they need to go to a clothing store?

"Because YOU look like you need some clothes to walk around in when he might need to hang out again, and Raphtalia-chan needs to learn how to dress up like a normal girl!" Being called out like that, Raphtalia instantly flinched. With her tail raised, her eyes had somewhat attained the shape of slits.

"Y-yes I do! I just… don't know what to wear!" Basically admitting that her taste in clothing was poor, Rifana and Keel had looked at her with pity.

"Sorry, but I'm not interested. We can try out some other places, but not the clothing store…" As if Naofumi had a detestable hate for the clothing store, he glared at Rifana who only looked at him with a teasing grin. Her teasing had no effect on him whatsoever…

"'Not interested', hmmm? Are you sure about that, Naofumi-kun?" As if she knew something he didn't her grin started to grow wider. Naofumi could only raise his eyebrow to this.

"Yes… I'm sure."

"Are you REALLY sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure…"

"Are you REALLY REALLY SURE, NAOFUMI-KUN?!" As she started to raise her voice a bit, Naofumi was starting to get annoyed.

'_Why is she pestering me to go? It's not like she can FORCE me to go. Unless…!' _Looking at Raphtalia, she stared at him back with a slightly reddened face. "You… won't, right?" Turning back to Rifana, he looked at her with a glare.

"Oh, I don't know~! It depends on your next answer~! Oh, how about this, Naofumi-kun? Let's do Rock-Paper-Scissors! If you win, then we'll go anywhere but the clothing store. But if I win… then let's say that we'll go to the clothing store, and Raphtalia gets to choose your clothes!" Clasping her hands, Rifana smiled at the both of them.

"What?!" Raphtalia and Naofumi both exclaimed, not liking the results of this game already. Keel could only facepalm herself as she had to stand and listen to the three of them interact with one another.

"You two heard me, let's get to it!" Standing in front of Naofumi, Rifana was already ready to start the game.

"You know… I could always decline the offer." Naofumi had just gained a perceptive insight to this situation. If he didn't play the game, then he wouldn't have to-oh wait, then they were going to have to go…

"Do you REALLY want to try that with me, Naofumi-kun?" Stealing a glance at Raphtalia, she looked pumped up for some reason, as he could see her tail wagging quickly. Who was she rooting for, anyway?

'_Okay, it's either me or her. It's been a while since I played Rock-Paper-Scissors, but if I still have it, then I'm sure I can win this one! All I have to do is-' _

* * *

"God, why do you hate me?" As they were in the nearest clothing store, Naofumi watched Raphtalia look through a bunch of men's clothing on the rack. She managed to pick out some jeans, but now, all she needs is a couple of shirts that might look PERFECT on him… at least to Raphtalia's standards…

"Maybe this one?!" She holds up a casual blue collared shirt. "Or maybe… this one?! No, this one is PERFECT!" Setting down the casual blue collared shirt, she picked up a shirt that said Shield Hero on the top of it, and a silver shield in the middle of it. In the middle of the shield, was a green gem. Where had Naofumi seen that before…? For some reason, he felt annoyed seeing that shield...

"Just pick one, woman…" Not wanting to spend anymore seconds in the clothing store, he wanted Raphtalia to hurry up. After the humiliating defeat from Rifana, he was forced to have Raphtalia pick out the clothing for him.

"S-sorry! H-here! M-meet me here after you're done!" As Raphtalia took her clothes and went to the women's side of the dressing area. After taking the clothes, he went into the men's dressing room to try out the clothes that she picked out for him.

After taking a few seconds to try on the clothes, he looked at the mirror to see how he looked. "...I guess it's fine. It wasn't the best of shirts… but if she finds it fine on me… then I guess I'll get it…" Of course, the silver shield looked ridiculous on him, but Raphtalia had a taste for it for some reason.

'_Shield Hero…? Yeah, right; who's going to see me as a hero.' _After Naofumi put back on his school uniform, he exit out of the dressing room and began to look for Raphtalia. He went back to the spot where she told him to meet him, but she was nowhere in sight. Where could she be? Rifana had told them to have fun, and took Keel somewhere, but they hadn't said when they'll be back, yet. Looks like it's only him and-

"Well, well, if it isn't Naofumi?" Hearing a familiar masculine voice, Naofumi gritted his teeth. This was a man that Naofumi TRULY hates! He looked like a college student, but he was actually in high school. Either way, he didn't care, he just hates him!

"Motoyasu…!" Turning around, he can see Motoyasu with his arm around Malty. Not only _she _was there, but he had some other girls with him. Of course, Motoyasu was a womanizer as he was never satisfied with one woman! However, it didn't matter how many girlfriends you have in Melromarc. Harems ARE allowed here, after all…

"What? No impressed to see us, here? Nevermind that, why are YOU here, Naofumi?! Don't TELL me you have a friend or two! With someone with your reputation, I wouldn't expect you to have even ONE friend!" After insulting him, the women that were gathered around him began to giggle. Of course, Malty also laughed with the group.

"Tch…" Clicking his tongue, he was about to leave until-

"I'm back, Naofumi-kun! Did the clothes look-huh? These are…!" Recognizing exactly who they are, Raphtalia's expression hardened.

"Wow, Naofumi, to think you'd stoop so low to hang out with a Demi-Human! It doesn't matter how smart she is, she's still a Demi-Human! Right, Motoyasu-kun?" As Malty began to insult Raphtalia, she nudged the shoulder of Motoyasu, only to get ignored.

"Such… such beauty!" Motoyasu exclaimed, as he stared at Raphtalia with starry eyes. Creeped out, Raphtalia AND Naofumi looked at Motoyasu looked at him with a disgusted look.

'_Seriously, how many girls does he need to have in order to be satisfied?! He can take any girl, but he ain't taking Raphtalia! She's too much of a good person to hang out with a jackass like him.' _"Tch, let's go, Raphtalia. I like the clothes so let's just pay for the damn things already." As he grabbed and pulled Raphtalia's arm, they started to walk towards the counter.

"Heh, so you're going to 'use her', too, Naofumi? Seriously, how low can you get?" Stopping for a second, he looked back to Motoyasu to glare at him, causing him to step back a bit. HE shouldn't be talking at all!

"Don't. Say. Another. Word!" Naofumi's voice was filled with venom as he talked to him. Raphtalia could only feel sad for him as he has to deal with them nearly everyday in school…

"Don't think you can always run and hide, Naofumi! Sooner or later, you're going to get what's coming to you by playing with a girls emotions!" As they began to walk away from them, some nearby people had overheard their conversation. Not caring about what they were saying about him, Naofumi hurried to the counter with Raphtalia so they could just pay and leave.

'_Sumbags!' _That was the only thought Naofumi had…

* * *

"So… I can tell that we missed something. However, care to share what that 'something' was, Raphtalia-chan?"Taking a sip of the soda she bought, she asked Rifana what was the problem with Naofumi. When they met up again, Naofumi had an angry-looking expression on his face and he wouldn't let go of Raphtalia's hand unless he knew where they were going. Of course, Raphtalia could only blush. As they arrived at an arcade, Naofumi had decided on finding something to 'relieve stress', only to find a punching bag game. Not wasting his opportunity, he headed straight to it. Keel, who wanted to challenge him to it, followed in pursuit.

"It's… a long story, Rifana-chan. Naofumi-kun met with… some people from school and they angered him. He liked the clothes I picked out, though…" For Raphtalia, she picked out a gray long-sleeved shirt, and a skirt that had two colors: red and black. To have add a finishing touch to it, there was a ribbon that was to go around her neck as she wears the clothes. For some reason, she liked the clothes the moment she saw them. They gave her a sense of… chivalry.

"Is that so? Well, you should talk to him! Make him a bit more comfortable by something that might soothe his anger!" Throwing away the empty can of soda, she was sugared-up on helping Raphtalia with her relationship crisis.

"But… how would I do that? Wouldn't it be fine… if I just left him alone? He… doesn't look like he wants to talk about it, so I should probably let it go, for now." Raphtalia had a saddened expression as she remembered the look he gave Motoyasu.

"Raphtalia-chan, at this point, you're going to lose to Keel-kun. She might not be going after his affection, but with the number of interactions they're beginning to share might cause them to 'get together'."

"What?!" Raphtalia immediately sat up from her seat after she heard that. It might've been Rifana's teasing, but it could eventually end up being the truth. Raphtalia remembered reading so many romance manga with interactions such as the ones Naofumi and Keel were sharing. At this point… Raphtalia might not have her chance!

'_Oh, how easy it is to make her fired up…" _"Of course! Now, how about you invite him to that game over there and let it go yourself go like a _smooth_ and _sailing_ boat? I'm sure you're BOUND to like the game with him!" Pointing at a yellow seating ride with a screen in front it, Raphtalia could only look at it in confusion. This WAS her first time being in an arcade, so she doesn't know what that ride is.

"...What are you up to…?" Raphtalia was suspicious as Rifana recommended ONLY that specific game out of everything in the arcade. There has to be a reason why Rifana specifically chose that ride…

"I'm not planning anything! That was the only game that's come to mind, so why won't you try it out? I promise that I'm not planning anything. He looked upset, so you should probably try something that looks comfortable! Come on, Raphtalia, trust me!" As she clasped her hands and made a sad face in front of her, Raphtalia couldn't say no to her. Been then again, how many times had she trusted her to NOT make things uncomfortable?

"...Oh, all right! I'll go ask him to play the game with me…" As Raphtalia left the seat she was sitting on, she walked towards the direction of where Naofumi and Keel went. Unknown to her, Rifana only grinned as her plan for Raphtalia and Naofumi were going to work, after all!

All she had to do now was wait…

"You… want me to go on this?" As Raphtalia found Naofumi and Keel at the punching machine, she could see Keel on the ground defeated. Raphtalia had pieced it together that Keel had lost the contest between the two. Weirdly, the 'punching bag' was a small orange ball that had an angry-looking face on it. Why would they make the 'punching bag' like that? After staring at it oddly, Raphtalia invited Naofumi to the game that Rifana recommended to her…

And here they were…

"Y-yes! I was just… thinking that you might need to put your mind off of things so I wanted to do something with you!" It didn't look like Naofumi found it odd, but Raphtalia was a bit embarrassed, nonetheless.

"Is that so? Okay, fine…" As Naofumi sat onto the yellow chair, he waited for Raphtalia to sit down on the other one.

"Really?!" Not wasting a second, Raphtalia quickly sat down onto the other yellow chair. As Naofumi reached out to put a coin in, Raphtalia waited for something to happen.

'_That's odd, I don't see any steering wheels or anything of the sort, here. It's just a screen and two chairs…' _After leaning back, Naofumi looked up at the screen as he waited for the next step.

"Say, Naofumi-kun, what kind of game is-kya!" All of a sudden, the chair that she was sitting on at bounced up, which caused her to go straight towards Naofumi's laying body.

"Huh?" As Naofumi didn't understand the situation he was in, that was the only thing he could say as he noticed that Raphtalia's hand was to the left of him, and her entire body was over top of him. As they looked at each other in the eyes, Naofumi was beginning to feel a bit of a tingle on his cheeks.

'_T-too close…!' _At a certain angle, anyone would see this as Raphtalia kissing Naofumi, but that wasn't the case here. Their faces were so close to each other, that it almost DID look like they were kissing!

"...Are you going to move, or are you going to keep staring at me?" Seeing a tint of red on his cheeks, Raphtalia instantly backed away from him.

"S-sorry! H-how do you play t-this game?!" Going back to her seat, she laid down on her bouncing chair and began to grab a hold of it so she wouldn't bounce off the chair.

"You mean you didn't know? You grab the handles at the side of your chair and watch the screen…" Looking at the sides of the chair, Raphtalia could see that there was indeed a handle on each side of the chair. Raphtalia felt like an idiot for not noticing that sooner…

"O-oh, is that so?!" Grabbing onto the handles, she looked to her right to see Rifana standing there with her usual teasing grin.

'_Rifana-chaaaaaaan!' _Raphtalia internally wanted to pull on Rifana's ears so much, right now…

* * *

"Sorry that I did that earlier; I didn't know how to play that game…" Stealing a glance as she apologized, Raphtalia glared at Rifana who only whistled and looked at anything else but her. Keel only stared and watch as she ate popcorn.

"It's fine, you didn't know how to play the game and you didn't know what would happen. It wasn't your fault." Happy that he didn't hate her because of that awkward moment, her tail started to wag fast.

"T-thank you for forgive me!" Bowing her head, she was happy that he didn't hate her. Rifana could only giggle as she watched the two talk to each other.

"Now that that's over with, how about we try another game! It's a claw one!" Rifana pointed to a giant claw machine that had a giant plushie shield, bow, sword, and spear in the middle of it. Other than that, there were also plushies of orange, red, and yellow balls that angry faces on them.

"That looks fun! Look, Naofumi-kun, it's the same shield as the one on your shirt! It'll be good if we'll be able to get it, right?" Raphtalia pointed out that the shield was indeed the same shield that was on his shirt that he had bought a while ago.

"What, do you want it?" Hearing that caused Raphtalia to look at him with an embarrassed face.

"W-what?! I-I didn't say that! B-but… if you're asking… yes." Raphtalia tried her best to not look at her in the eye, but failed miserably.

"All right, then." With that, Naofumi started to walk towards the claw machine and inserted a coin.

"Naofumi-kun, go a little to the left, a bit!" Rifana tried to cheer Naofumi on, but it looked like he was starting to get a bit annoyed. However, that didn't stop Raphtalia on wanting to cheer him on to…

"B-be sure to try your best, Naofumi-kun!"

"Idiot, you're off a bit! Go a little to the right!"

"No, Keel-kun, he needs to go to the left!"

"Rifana-chan, I can see how it is! It's to the right!"

"No, it's to the left!"

"Right!"

"No, left!"

"All right, all right, already! I got this!" As Naofumi moved the claw slightly to the center, he lowered the claw, which was then about to latch down onto the shield.

'_Please, please work! You can do it, Naofumi-kun!' _Raphtalia cheered Naofumi on internally as she didn't want him to lose his concentration. As it latched onto the shield, it started to bring it upwards and was about to bring it to the exit of the machine…

'_Please! Please! Please work!' _And then, it dropped…

Into the exit…!

"Yes! You did it, Naofumi-kun!" As Raphtalia jumped for joy, Naofumi opened the exit of the machine and took out the plushie shield.

"Well… I did it, I guess. I guess you can say that it was calling me or something like that. Here…" Giving the plusie to Raphtalia, she held it close to her chest.

"Are you… sure? I mean, you won it, so it should belong to you, right?" Raphtalia didn't want to be selfish as she didn't want to take what was supposed to be Naofumi's.

"You wanted it, so I got it for you. There's no need to act like that." As Raphtalia heard those words, her chest began to tighten, in which she started to hug the plushie shield tighter.

"...Thank you. Really, Naofumi-kun, this means so much to me." Smiling to him, Naofumi instantly turned around from her.

"It's… fine. Anyway, I guess I'll head back home now. My parents are probably worried about me…" As he began to walk away, there's something that Raphtalia wanted to know before he left…

N-Naofumi-ku, wait!" Stopping his last step, he turned back to Raphtalia.

"What's wrong now?"

"Did you… have fun, at least?" As Rifana and Keel walked to Raphtalia's side, Naofumi stared at them with an unreadable expression.

'_Fun, huh? When was the last time I had 'fun'?' _As Naofumi contemplated with himself, he looked at Raphtalia, whose tail was wagging behind her and ears twitching. She had that face again… the one that made Naofumi do stupid things…

"Yeah, I guess you can say that. I'll… see you later, I guess…" Without saying anything else, Naofumi walked out the door to walk towards his home…

'_See you later? Does he… actually mean that? Will I… be talking to Naofumi-kun, again?!' _Smiling, Raphtalia could only hug her shield plushie even tighter…

Unknown to her, there was a glow emanating from the green gem in the middle of the shield, causing warmth to be filled within her…

'_Did I… imagine that? Did that shield just… no, I must be imagining things. I'll just leave her alone for the rest of the day…' _Not wanting to tell her about it, Rifana watched Raphtalia hug the plushie shield in happiness...


	11. Helping

**(A/N) **

**Sorry for the lack of updates, everyone! I shouldn't have taken a break from this story! Writing this makes me feel all happy on the inside! Since I'm not that good writing long story-like stories, I should be continuing this story a bit more often when I get the time. Sorry everyone! It's short, but this is all the time I have for now! School's starting, and my life is going to go through hell! Especially... college. **

Naofumi took a minute to analyze the writing that was on the board. While his eyebrow started to twitch, he could do nothing but stare at it while everyone was leaving the class. It was the last class of the day, the last minute of the class, and the last thing Naofumi could do was to slam his head on his desk. Even after taking that test, Naofumi didn't think he had to deal with anything else today.

Cleaning Duty

Naofumi Iwatani

Other than dealing with annoying people, _this _was the second thing that he hated to do in school. Who even has the rights to force that upon someone? Going to school was painful enough, but cleaning after people was the _worse _thing you can force upon someone… especially someone like Naofumi.

"Out of all the things you can do on a Monday… it had to be _this…_" Everyone was walking out of the classroom in a hurry to either go home quickly or get away from someone like him. The moment he heard the classroom door close, he got up and walked to the board. Looking at the board, he took a moments notice to look at everything that was on the board. Sighing, he got the eraser and started to erase some of the things on the board. "Geez… I think I'd rather be annoyed by those three than do this crap…" At that moment, the door to the class had open.

"You called, Naofumi~?" Stopping everything that he was doing to look at the door, he gave the only person who would annoy him the most… a bland look. With her head poked out, she looked at Naofumi with a cat-like smile.

Rifana…

"Rifana-chan, we shouldn't be bothering him! He's on cleaning duty!" Raphtalia didn't poke her head out of the corner, but Naofumi was still able to hear her from behind the corner that Rifana was standing at.

"Seriously… why are even here? Shouldn't we be going home now?" Keel poked her head out to look at Naofumi with a similar bland look Naofumi was giving Rifana.

"Well, since Raphtalia-chan decided to stick around to watch Naofumi-kun here finish his cleaning duty, _we _decided to stick around so Raphtalia-chan didn't have to be all lonely when she's watching her-" Before she could say anything else, Rifana's head had been abruptly forced backwards. Replacing her head was Raphtalia herself.

"D-Don't listen to her, Naofumi-kun! I wasn't watching you do your cleaning duty business! I was just walking to the exit of the school, that's all!" Raphtalia's face was already flustered when she poked her head out. Hearing this, Keel looked up at Raphtalia.

"Raphtalia-chan, the way to the exit is in the opposite direction of where this class is…" Reacting with a more flustered face, Raphtalia moved Keel's face back so she couldn't be seen anymore.

"Hahaha, they like to joke around a lot, Naofumi-kun, please don't listen to what they're saying. What were you doing again? Hahahahaha…" Sweating a bit, Raphtalia revealed her entire body in the doorway.

"That's not true, Raphtalia-chan! I know that your feelings are never a-" Moving into the classroom, Raphtalia slammed the door with her foot while she held a smile at Naofumi.

Instead of a vocal response from Naofumi, the only thing that came from him was the sound of the eraser hitting the floor…

"...I take it back, please…" Facepalming, he could only find himself going into his misery once again. As Keel and Rifana poked their head out again, Rifana and Raphtalia were the only ones who tilted their head in confusion.

"Take what back?" They asked simultaneously. And to that, Naofumi could only groan as he realizes that whatever god that was watching him… was laughing their heads off.

* * *

"Oh boy, I didn't think we'd need to carry so much stuff, Naofumi-kun! It looks like you need a helping hand!" Rifana, who was looking at the stack of books that were on the teacher's desk, patted her hand on Naofumi's back.

"Don't touch me…" His voice wasn't filled with hatred, it was only filled with low energy. Rifana could only smile when he said that.

"Oh, don't be like that, Naofumi-kun! Here, I'll give you a hand to make things up with you~!" As there was at least ten stacks of huge books on the teacher's desk, Rifana started to take five books off one at a time, instead of just taking them into a whole stack. After putting them into a stack herself, she swiped the fake sweat that was on her head.

"Whew~! I didn't think that these books would be this heavy! I'm already tired and sweating, Naofumi-kun! If only there was someone who's been training _aggressively_ to show them Naofumi how strong they really are?! Oh, I wonder who that could be~?!"

'_She only took them off of the stack one by one! How can she be tired already?! And I'm not going to comment that last thing she said…' _Naofumi walked to the remaining stacked books and picked them up. They were a bit heavy, but nothing _that_ much to comment on.

"...I'll be back to get the remaining other five. Don't follow me." Before he could walk away from her, something brown went across his face with speed that should be considered inhuman. Looking at where that brown thing stopped at, revealed Raphtalia, who had her hand on the other stack of books that were sitting on the table.

"I-I can help, Naofumi-kun! I might not look the part, but I'm really strong!" As she picked up the remaining five books without trouble at all. She wasn't shaking, and it didn't look like she was struggling to hold the books.

"You don't need to help me. Just put them down and I'll come back to take them back to the teacher's room." Naofumi said, not wanting her to do this for him. For whatever reason, it didn't seem right to have these duties pushed onto them. This was _his _duty day, so _he _should be the one doing these things.

"P-please, Naofumi-kun, let me help! I don't… want you to do these things all alone…" Averting her eyes with drooping ears, she looked saddened that he didn't want her to help him.

"...Must you always do that?" Naofumi asked, knowing exactly what Raphtalia was trying to do. Ever since the time when he accepted her lunch, she's been doing this a bit more often… as if she was doing this on purpose…

"Hm? What are you talking about, Naofumi-kun?" Tilting her head a bit, she looked confused as to what he was talking about. Even when he looked at her in the eyes, he could tell that she wasn't trying to play everything off…

"Don't… just don't."

"Is there something-" Before she could speak anymore, Raphtalia felt Rifana's arm on her shoulder. Looking at her, Rifana only moved her face closer to her ear.

"_You know, I think guys like Naofumi-kun likes girls who are strong, Raphtalia-chan~" _As Naofumi was watching Rifana whisper into Raphtalia's ear, he could only raise an eyebrow. Until, suddenly, Raphtalia's face had straightened, and gotten serious. As Naofumi was about to ask what was going on, he watched Raphtalia place the books that were in her hands, back onto the teacher's table.

And before he even noticed it, his hands felt relatively empty…

"What the-?" After Naofumi looked at his empty hands, he looked back at Raphtalia, who had taken his books with lightning speed. '_What… how did she even take them that fast?! I didn't even notice that she took them from my hands after she placed down the others!' _Naofumi thought to himself as he watched Raphtalia put the other five books on the stack that she was just carrying.

"Wow, Raphtalia-chan, you're so strong~!" After Raphtalia picked up the ten books all at once, she started to walk towards the door that led out of the room. As it was already open, Raphtalia stopped at the doorway and looked back at Naofumi with a smile.

"Don't worry, Naofumi-kun! I'll be right back!" As she left, Naofumi didn't, or rather, _couldn't _say anything in response as to what just happened. Not wanting to contemplate that much about it, he walked away from Rifana without saying anything to her.

"Tch! Stupid board!" Hearing Keel click her tongue at something, he looked to see Keel trying to reach the top of the board that she was trying to clean with the eraser in hand. Now, Keel wasn't in for trying to help Naofumi with his cleaning duties. She wanted to go home so she didn't have to deal with the… stuff that was going on in the empty classroom.

However, Rifana didn't like it when Keel was… 'anti-social'.

"What, can't reach the board short-stack? Need me to get a stool for you?" As Naofumi teasingly smirked at her, she looked back at him with an angered look.

"I hope you're not getting ahead of yourself, Naofumi. I could tell the teacher that you forced three pure and innocent girls to do the work for you, you know. And besides, something wrong with being short? If you continue to grow older, I'm sure you'll be tall enough to hit the top of an open door with your head." As her angry look started to change into a smirk, Naofumi's eye twitched in return.

"Please, as if they would believe in a girl that looks and acts like a Gal. And plus, I wonder if you have a cabinet in your house that can't be reached with your small little height…" Crossing his arms, he looked down at her with a glare.

"Is that so? Well, I'm sure that with your reputation and the way you act, I'm sure that you wouldn't have any problems with the three of us being added to your rumors? I'm sure that even the Demi-Human parts of our school would be _ecstatic _to hear something like that, right?" The two continued to stare at each other with glares that were meant to pierce through their own souls. Without anything else to say, Naofumi snatched the eraser from Keel's hand and started to erase the things that were on the top of the board. Keel was about to comment on his quietness, but she felt a hand lay on her shoulder, causing her to look back at the person who touched her…

"Say, Keel-kun~? I would like to have a chat with you~! Won't you come along and see what I have to say to you~?"

Rifana… and she _didn't _look happy… not one bit.

Keel could tell because of Rifana's eyes being closed.

Not only that, but the grip that she had on Keel's shoulder was starting to tighten… hard.

* * *

The sound of a garbage bag going into a dumpster was heard in Naofumi's ears. After cleaning the board, the only thing Naofumi had to do was take out the garbage. He didn't care what Keel said to him, he only wanted to hurry and be done with all of the stuff that he was forced to do.

"Naofumi-kun, is everything okay?" And it so happens that Raphtalia wanted to help him out with the garbage. Since it was the last garbage bag that had to go out, it was finally time for them to go home. However, since Raphtalia had called him out before he left, he looked back to see Raphtalia with a worried look on her face.

"...Yeah, I'm fine. We're done with everything, so go tell your friends that they can go home." With his bag over his shoulder, he was prepared to leave.

"Are you sure? You look… a bit aggravated, if I should say something. N-not that I would know if you're angry heavily or not! It's just the way you threw that last bag into the dumpster had made me think that! If there was anything that Rifana-chan and Keel-kun done to you while I was gone, then I apologize!" Naofumi always did find Raphtalia weird. While she was one of the most popular girls in school, well, in the Demi-Human side, she still decides to stick around him. She didn't look like she cared about her popularity, though. Go to school, learn, work, get good grades, and go home. That was the only thing Raphtalia did when she goes to school.

If only Naofumi didn't have any interest in the one who caused his reputation to be like this. Everything would have gone differently. If he could punch his past self, he would take that chance without hesitation. He would tell himself to stay away from that woman, to forget about his stupid crush on her, to forget about everything that involved that woman…

And meet the right people… like Raphtalia.

"...Why did you decide to help me?" It was a question that Naofumi wanted to know ever since she decided to pick up the books. In all of his non-interacted life, he never received help from anyone. It all felt alien to him.

"Huh? W-well… is there something wrong with helping out a friend? I-I know that you were the only one on cleaning duty, so I just decided to help. Rifana-chan and Keel-kun might have their own reasons, but now that you know my reason, I feel a wave of anxiety come out of my lungs." Naofumi still found it weird that she still decided to help him. She had no reason to. She could've gone home, talk to her friends, study, and go to sleep. Instead, she wasted so much of her time to go and help him.

'_Perhaps… it could be because of… that.' _Naofumi thought to himself. He remembered something that happened a long time ago. He remembered a story that was about a young Human boy, helping out a young Demi-Human girl. He remembered that story well. At the end of it, the girl promised the boy that she will meet him again, and make it up to him… one day.

Yes… one day…

Raphtalia must've read that book as well. She must've read that story and decided to learn something from the contents of its pages. Maybe, one day, the world wouldn't be so racist to the Demi-Humans. One day, everyone will come to love each other, no matter what they look like…

"Naofumi-kun, isn't it starting to smell a bit dirty here? I think we should just go now. Would you like to walk home with-woah!" As she was walking towards Naofumi, Raphtalia accidently slipped on something, causing her to move forward abruptly… and into Naofumi's chest.

"S-sorry, Naofumi-kun! I slipped on something and lost control over myself! I didn't mean to-" As Raphtalia moved away from Naofumi, her face had managed to turn cherry red.

"...So, still clumsy, I see." Scratching the back of his head, Naofumi started to walk away from Raphtalia, but not before waving his hand off. "See you." Without saying anything else, Naofumi turned the corner to leave the area.

"W-why do I have to be so clumsy?! I didn't mean to, Naofumi-kun! I'm sorry!" As Raphtalia started to run after Naofumi, she looked back to see what she managed to slip on…

...Which was a banana peel?

Seeing that, Raphtalia smiled and ran towards Naofumi's direction...


	12. Devil and Angel

**(A/N) **

**Ahem, this... might not be cute as you think it may be...**

"Raphtalia, how did you like the book?" Her father asked while smiling upon her. Raphtalia looked up to her father and smiles happily.

"It was great, Father! Is it okay if I read it for myself next time?"

'_No matter how old she is, Raphtalia will always be our little girl.' _He thought, shortly before chuckling at his daughter's cuteness. "Why, of course you can! I know how much you love to read books during the night, so make sure you don't take it too far by staying up late, okay?"

"Mhm!" She hummed happily. After taking the book, she started to walk towards the door that led out of the room with her tail wagging happily. But before she opened the door, she stopped. Turning around, she opened her mouth. "Father, what do you think about the book?" She asked.

Her father smiled and crossed his arms as he began to contemplate what he enjoyed in the book. "Well, I could say that it was a great book, Raphtalia. It's kind of hard to say what I really like in the book." Her father raised a finger to his lips, wondering what he truly liked in the book.

"Father, I know that characters create the story with every decision they make, so, what do you think about the characters? That's good to start at, right?!" As his little girl was ecstatic to know what he liked about the characters, he couldn't help fold his hands.

"The characters, huh? A story about love that shouldn't have happened, love that wasn't respected in the world, a story about two characters who had fallen in love… without letting anyone stop them. A devil and an angel; two different species seeking comfort with each other... huh, I guess you can that I love those two characters, Honey." A creek was heard, and the door to the room opened to reveal the mother of Raphtalia.

"Seems like you two were having fun without me. Did I miss out on the story, Dear?" With a platter in hand, she holds cups of steaming hot liquid that Raphtalia knew well.

"Hot Chocolate! Thanks, Mother!" Raphtalia thanked her mother who had brought in three cups of hot chocolate. Setting the platter down onto the table that was in front of her father, her mother raised her hand to her cheek when she looked at the clock that was on the wall, almost as if she was heartbroken.

"Oh, dear, I didn't think I would be gone for that long! When work gets to you, you start to lose track of time!" Her mother complained. Laughing, her father could only cover his face with his hand.

"Oh, Honey, you always seem to have the time to worry about us when you have so much work in your hands!" Raphtalia's mother pouted her cheeks with her hands on her hips.

"Of course I have the time to worry about my family! I'm not some kind of workaholic, you know!" Reaching out for the cup, he smiled again.

"Well, back in high school, you always did seem to worry about your schoolwork a lot. You didn't even want to leave the school until you finish all of your work! Ow, that's hot…" Blowing into the cup, he tried to cool down the heat that was seeping out of the cup.

"I did not worry about my schoolwork a lot! I had the saying "it's better to do it now than later", rather than just going home and finishing it there! That way, it won't be homework!" While sipping up some more of the hot chocolate, he looked at her with a raised brow.

"You sure, Honey? Do I have to remind you of how far that saying took you?" Her mother pouted some more, before sighing. When Raphtalia sat back down on the opposite side of the table, she was ready to ask what her mother and father were talking about, but before she could do that…

*Ding!* *Dong!* Raphtalia's ears twitched upon hearing the doorbell to her house. Who could be ringing the doorbell at this morning?

"Oh, wait! That's Rifana-chan and Keel-kun! Sorry Mother, sorry Father, but I have to go now!" Forgetting that she had promised to hang out with Rifana and Keel today, she quickly rushed out of the room to hurry and get dressed. However, upon leaving, she left the steaming out cup of hot chocolate on the table.

"Remember that if someone does something kind for you, be sure to thank them, okay?!" There was no response from Raphtalia. Her father could only sigh before smiling.

"Okay, I will!" Raphtalia said after coming back, only to leave the room in a hurry again.

"And… she's gone." Her mother smiled. "That girl… how is she growing up this quickly? Dear, remember when she was younger and she never wanted to leave the house because she was too shy?" Her father, setting the empty cup back down on the table, put a finger to his chin, trying to remember that time.

"Hm. Well, Raphtalia's beginning to change due to her age, Honey. When she grows older, I wouldn't be surprised that she will decide to hang out with her friends more often than just staying home."

"Honey, she's only fourteen years old! Don't you think she's growing up… _too _fast?"

"She's smart for her age, too, Honey. Sometimes, people can grow and change, resulting in them to find a side of themselves that they didn't think they had before. Raphtalia's not an exception to that, either." He turned his head towards the steaming cup of hot chocolate, steaming while next to another cup that hadn't been drunk yet. "Sometimes… all it takes is a bit of courage for someone to break out of their shell, you know? Maybe… sharing a cup of hot chocolate with someone else wouldn't be so bad, right?" When he turned to see his wife, he could see that she was looking at him with a blunt look, causing him to sweat nervously. "Honey? Is something wrong?"

"...You're such a nerd sometimes, you know? You were even like this back in high school, you know? Your poetry was so some lame back then..." Her husband could only feel something shatter within his heart. "But… then again," She looked at the two cups of hot chocolate with a smile beginning to form. "Sharing a cup or two doesn't seem that bad."

After long, one of the cups finally stopped steaming. The heat that was seeping from out of the cup had finally cooled.

* * *

"C'mon, Raphtalia-chan! Why don't you want to play some Kickball?!" A Demi-Human boy asked, wondering why Raphtalia was sitting on the sidelines while everyone else was kicking the ball to one another. Rather than playing with them, Raphtalia chose to sit out and read the book that she got from her father.

"Huh? Oh, um... I'm not into that sort of thing, sorry." Apologizing to the boy, his dog-like ears twitched.

"Huh?! What do you mean?! Raphtalia-chan, you should try it out! I mean, you were able to outspeed Keel-kun in a race to get here, right?! C'mon, Raphtalia-chan, you should try it out!" Looking behind him, she could see Rifana and Keel smiling while they kicked the ball to each other. To play Kickball, as they called it, all they basically did was kick the ball to one another while they stood across the street from one another. One person kicked it to one side, and the other person did the same back.

"_Truth be told, the angel was simply someone who lacked the power of holding off her own to someone else. While she was an angel, they do not wish for violence as that is one thing that they truly fear." _

"O-okay, then…" Setting her book aside, Raphtalia stood up from where she was sitting at. At this, the Demi-Human boy started to wag his tail with happiness.

"Yay! Raphtalia-chan is going to join us! C'mon, Raphtalia! Let's hurry and join up with the others!" With that, he ran to meet up with his friends. Now, there was nothing wrong with the people that Raphtalia hung out with. Other than Rifana and Keel, she didn't know that much about the others, other than the fact that they were Demi-Humans.

"_The angel, compared to other angels, wasn't the type of angel who would watch over others. The angel hadn't found a single reason why they should watch over someone they don't know. As it was like a holy blessing to those below them, it was forced work for the angel. And so, she told her superiors that she didn't and couldn't." _

"...Okay."

* * *

"Raphtalia-chan, did you find the ball yet?" Rifana asked, searching with Raphtalia and Keel for the ball that they had lost.

"N-no, I haven't. I'm… I'm sorry, Rifana-chan. I don't know what came over me…" Raphtalia's ears drooped as she felt guilty that she had been the reason why the ball was gone. Rifana patted Raphtalia's back to cheer her up.

"Don't worry about it, Raphtalia-chan! I mean, part of it is Keel-kun's fault, right?" As they were walking down an unfamiliar street to find the ball, Keel, who was trying to find the ball, looked back to Rifana and Raphtalia.

"My fault?! What do you mean?! I only started by rolling the ball towards her!" Keel stated the fact. Rifana could only look at her with a blunt look.

"Yes, that's true, but why did you roll the ball that hard? You basically made Raphtalia freak out because of that!" Rifana shot back.

"No… it's because I freaked out that I lost the ball. Should I have never had turned the way I was going to kick the ball, a car wouldn't have hit it and caused it to bounce somewhere else. I'm sorry…" While her depression was clearly visible, Rifana and Keel could only look at each other with saddened looks.

"No, it's my fault as well, Raphtalia-chan. I'm… sorry that I rolled the ball too fast…" Keel started to scratch her head and looked towards another direction, other than at her with an embarrassed blush. Upon hearing her apology, Raphtalia sadly smiled at her.

"Well, as much as I love the apologies and all, we should probably hurry and find the ball. I don't know what this place is, but I have a bad feeling about it..." While the street they were walking through had nothing wrong with it appearance-wise, Rifana couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.

"Why? There's nothing wrong with this street, Rifana-chan. Unless… you're scared that someone will-"

"Don't say that, Keel-kun! We… we have to be careful! G-getting Rifana-chan all scared won't help either!" As Keel was almost close to teasing Rifana, Raphtalia decided to intervene. However, as Raphtalia was concerned over her friend's safety, she herself, was scared at the unfamiliar place that they were in.

"What? I didn't do anything wrong, Raphtalia-chan! I was just… just…" As Keel was trailing off, something had caught Keel's eye. As Raphtalia and Rifana were both concerned as to why Keel was acting like this, they looked towards the direction that Keel was looking at.

"That's…!" Before Raphtalia could say anything else, her attention was forced to look in front of her. Behind her, Rifana had forced Raphtalia's head to look forward.

"Raphtalia-chan… don't look at them. Whatever you do… don't look at them. Let's just… head back…" Rifana said shaky voice.

"Huh? But aren't they just…"

"Raphtalia-chan, Keel-kun, we're leaving…" Without saying another word, Rifana turned the other direction and started to walk. Keel… wasn't doing that good, either. As she was shaking, she had the courage to turn around and catch up with Rifana.

"But… they're… Humans. What's wrong with Humans?" She asked herself, before walking to catch up with them. Even when Raphtalia recognized that the people they were looking at were indeed Humans, as they had no animalistic features, she couldn't shake an uneasy feeling she had in her chest.

When she looked at them… she found out that they were already staring at them… with menacing eyes. And… was that the reason why they hadn't encountered anyone on their end of the street? Raphtalia is observant. She noticed that people weren't walking on her side of the unfamiliar street, but decided not to comment on it to Rifana or Keel. She had thought that because it was early in the morning, no one would be out and running.

"Huh?" Something caught Raphtalia's eye as she was walking back towards the direction they came from. What had caught her eye, however, was the sight of a familiar circular object that was lying next to a dumpster in an alleyway. '_The ball!' _ She thought, before running into the alleyway to grab it.

'_It's… dirty…' _Upon grabbing it, she found out that the ball had some stains on it, getting rid of some of the natural color it had on it. Green.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Flinching from the random voice that she heard, she turned around to see a boy… at the entrance of the alleyway. He had his hands in the pockets of his hood while he had his hood on. With his hood on, it frightened Raphtalia.

"I-I'm… I'm…!" As she tried to say words from her mouth, she couldn't. She was afraid enough that she couldn't form any more words. Sighing, the boy started to walk towards her, causing her to become even more nervous.

"_Another tale, another time, another day, she met another angel. The other angel wanted to know what was wrong with her. Why she didn't want to watch the others below her, why she chose to go against their superiors, why she chose to do anything else but her job." _

"Hey, why are you stuttering? I asked you a question, so why not answer it?" As he got closer to her, Raphtalia was able to see that he had emerald green eyes. She was unable to tell if he was a Demi-Human or not because of his hood that he wore over his head.

"I'm… sorry." She quickly apologized.

"Why are you apologizing? Just answer the question. Why is a girl standing in the middle of an alleyway? You're not… poor are you?" Responding to the random accusation, her ears and tail twitched.

"I-I'm not poor! I was just… looking for my ball…" She looked down, not wanting to meet the boy's eyes. However, as she noticed that he didn't respond, she looked back up to see him staring at the ears on her head.

"You're… a Demi-Human." It was not said as a question; there was no hint of surprise of confusion in his voice when he spoke those short words.

"H-huh? Y-yes, I-I am…" She felt that there was something wrong here. While he recognized that she was a Demi-Human, why say something about it? Unless… "Um… are you… perhaps a Human?"

"...Yeah." His response was short, but she nonetheless, she still found it odd. From the way the Humans from earlier was looking at her, this boy had no eyes that showed hatred. Yes, while his eyes looked uninterested, but he didn't look at her with menacing eyes.

"You're not… going to hate me, right?" Her curiosity piqued, and her mind formed words for her. The boy was about to say something, but something blocked out her hearing. Replaced it… was-

*Growl!* The sudden growl had made the two look at the source of the growl… a black dog that was ready to pounce at any moment. As it was in the way of the entrance, there wasn't any way out of the alleyway. There was only one way in, and one way out.

"W-why is t-there a d-dog here!" Raphtalia was already afraid. Not once had she thought that she would be in this predicament. Out of nowhere, her vision was blocked by the back of the boy that she had just met.

"...Stay behind me." His voice was forced, that's what Raphtalia could tell. While he made himself sound serious, his body was shaking. He was afraid. As the black dog started to come closer to them, they backed away from it. Soon, the dog started to form foam in its mouth.

"We… we have to escape!" Raphtalia screamed, wanting to get out of this situation. However, no matter how much she wanted to escape, the reality was that she couldn't. With the black dog coming close to them, it closed the hope of escaping without any injuries.

"...That dog… it has a name tag." He mentioned, seeing that there was a piece of metal dangling around the dog's neck. "If it has a name tag, then that means that someone owns it. Or… someone _did _something to it…"

"Why…? Why is this happening? Why? Why?" The boy could easily see that Raphtalia was scared. With her shaking form, shaky voice, and tears that were trailing down her eyes, he knew she was afraid. But, in fact, he was scared as well. The possibility that someone did something to this dog that caused it to come here was unrealistic. But, even so, being analytical won't help his situation. He had to do something so they could escape; they were in an alleyway, so what could he use to attack the dog? Or, at least, to protect them? A dumpster, trash cans-

*Growl!* The dog lunged, ready to attack them. No, there wasn't any time to contemplate what he should use. Grabbing the closest thing to him, he raised it high so he could protect himself from the dog.

*Clang!* The sound of a clang echoed through the alley. In the boy's hands, was a trash can lid that managed to stop the dog by having the dog hit its head on the front of it. "A-are you okay?!" Raphtalia asked, wanting to know if he had any injuries. However, before he could say anything, the dog got back up and shook its body, shaking off any confusion it had before growling once again. Turning its head towards Raphtalia, it lunged again.

"No!" As the trash can lid he had was in his left hand, he didn't have the time to move the lid to his right, so he could do the same thing he did to the dog before.

The jaws that were threatening to bite her, the boy's reaction, they all felt slow to Raphtalia. She didn't have the chance to move away from it. All she could do… was close her eyes wait. Wait for something to happen…

And then, the sound of flesh was heard. "Grahhh!" The sound of the boy's scream had caused her to open her eyes quickly. In front of her, was the black dog biting onto the boy's arm as it laid over him. Raphtalia, who was scared for the boy's safety, couldn't move. She was afraid. "R-run already! Hurry up and run!"

The boy's injury was going to be her fault…

She looked to her side to see if there was anything she could use to help, only to find a metal pipe right next to her. She was afraid… but he was too. But… why did he move? Why did he save her? Why did he do something if he was afraid? He's doing something that Raphtalia didn't think anyone would…

...Saving her life.

"_Remember that if someone does something kind for you, be sure to thank them, okay?!"_

But she couldn't run. She couldn't run away from this. She was just a child that was witnessing something traumatic. Why not run? Even as a child, there's something that can cause a child to respond and react at certain things, no matter if it was wrong or not. And so, with her instincts telling her to grab the metal pole, she grabbed it and rushed towards the dog.

"Leave him alone!" Without hesitation, she hit the dog away from the boy. As the dog was on its side because of the impact, the dog got back up on its-

"Leave…!" She swung the pipe on the dog's head. It tried to get back up, only for another blow to the head.

"Hey…" The boy called out in a weak voice.

"Him…!" Another blow to the head. Another and another. Blood started to spurt and gush on Raphtalia's clothes.

"H-hey…!" He called out again.

"Alone…!" With one final blow, the dog stopped moving. No, the dog had already stopped moving from her second blow. Panting, she looked back to the boy who was holding onto his arm that had blood coming down from the bite mark.

"...okay?" She said faintly. Her mind felt dizzy, her stomach felt like it was going to twist and turn. Starting to walk towards the boy, she needed to make sure he was okay. But, before she could even get close to him, she slipped on something that caused her to fall onto the floor with her face on the concrete.

"H-Hey! Are… are you okay?!" Even when he was injured, he was coming to see if she was okay. Why was he doing this? Why did she do that to that dog? Why did she keep hitting it? These were questions that Raphtalia wanted to focus on, but she couldn't.

"Why…?" Was all she could say when she raised her head to look at him, revealing that tears were still coming down from her eyes. "Why?" was the question she wanted an answer to. And that was the final thing she said before letting sleep carry her over into her dreams…

"_...And so, the angel disappeared into a world of unknown. No one has heard of the angel since the day they left. Until, one day, the angel was heard to have returned." _

* * *

"Raphtalia-chan, it's time to wake up! Why are you even sleeping in class, to begin with?!" Opening her eyes to Rifana's voice, she raised her head that was buried in her arms and looked at her.

"Rifana-chan…? Sorry, I didn't have that much sleep last night. I was busy studying…" Rifana looked worried for a second before smiling.

"That's okay, Raphtalia-chan. Since school's done, let's hurry and head home! And look, Naofumi-kun is waking up from his nap as well!" As they both turned to see Naofumi opening his eyes, he looked around to see that class was already over. "Aw, would you look at that, Raphtalia-chan! You both woke up at the same time! I hope both of you had pleasant dreams~!" Breathing out with his nose, he grabbed his bag and swung it over his shoulders, only to walk outside of the classroom.

"Yeah… it was a… pleasant dream, Rifana-chan." Raphtalia smiled. After getting up from out of her seat, she noticed that Keel was not around.

"Rifana-chan, where's Keel-kun?" She asked.

"Huh? Oh, Keel-kun said something about her father wanting something from her, so she left early." Raphtalia looked at Keel's chair, noticing at how empty it was.

"Oh, is that so…?" Raphtalia smiled all of a sudden.

"What are you smiling about~? It better not have to do with that lewd dream you were having with Naofumi-kun~!" Hearing that, Raphtalia's face immediately became red.

"T-that's not what I was dreaming about! I was just… dreaming about some old times!" Rifana's smug grin looked almost similar to a cat.

"Uh-huh. Well, let's hurry on, Raphtalia! Let's go home!" Without any time wasted, Rifana ran out of the room. Raphtalia, however, could only look at the empty seat that Naofumi was once sitting in. Rifana didn't notice it, but Raphtalia did.

Upon waking up, the first thing Naofumi did was look at her.

And for that, it made Raphtalia happy.

"_The angel was no longer an angel. With doubt and work slaving the angel's mind into a fixation, the angel wanted to longer be tied to anything else. There was only one fixation the angel wanted. And for that, the angel became a devil, an angel that was lost beyond help. But, the angel didn't need help. The angel knew that it had something to do, whether if it was wrong or not. No longer will the angel be forced to watch over others the angel does not know. The angel, a newly found devil, watches an angel that is slaved to a misery beyond comprehension. The devil shall now watch over the angel that they wanted to watch…" _


	13. Wssh!

**(A/N)**

**Sorry. That's all I'm able to say right now. I hope you enjoy this cute part. **

"Huh? You don't know where Keel-kun is?" While her last class before lunch finished, Raphtalia was not expecting this to be the first thing that Rifana would ask.

"No, I would've expected that you would've seen her. Muu, sometimes skipping classes is one thing to deal with, but finding out where she goes most of the time is another thing. Raphtalia pondered for a moment. Sure, Keel wasn't the best of students, but skipping classes often like this would ruin her reputation. It wouldn't be long to see Keel become like a delinquent.

"Then let's find her! We have plenty of enough time, so let's go! I'm going to give Keel-kun another earful when we do!" Rifana only hastily smiled. When there was something that either of them did that was… stupid, they were sure to get an earful by Raphtalia. And sadly, there was no escaping her lectures…

"Hm, if I was Keel-kun, then I wouldn't try to show my face around the school in terms of getting caught by someone. Oh! How about we check outside for a bit?! She's probably hiding at some place that's shady-looking!" Raphtalia hummed in agreement with Rifana, before the both of them left the room, leaving a certain someone to his own time…

* * *

'_She's not even hiding!' _Were the thoughts of both of them, as they found themselves staring at Keel, who was only sleeping under a tree without a care.

"Keel-kun!"

"W-wha?! What, I'm up!" From Raphtalia's raised voice, Keel woke up as if she was waking up from a nightmare. Slightly shaken a bit, she looked up to see:

Rifana's smiling face.

And Raphtalia's disappointed look.

This wasn't going good for her.

"R-Raphtalia-chan, b-before you say anything, let me-" Before she could explain herself, she felt two fingers seal her lips, preventing her speaking.

"You can't keep doing this, Keel-kun! Not only are you losing out on valuable information, but you're going to become a delinquent if this continues to happen! Not only would we be worried about you, but your parents will be worried as well! You don't want-"

"It doesn't matter if my parents know about this, Raphtalia. Besides, I… had to be out here because I didn't get any sleep." Raphtalia analyzed the bangs under her eyes, notifying that she didn't in fact get any sleep. The question is why she didn't get any…

"You weren't reading manga all night, were you? Or perhaps, you were just playing video games, all the while forgetting about the time?" For those two excuses that Raphtalia was used to, Keel didn't respond for a moment.

"...Yeah, something like that." Keel responded while diverting her eyes away from Raphtalia.

"Keel-kun!"

"I know, R-Raphtalia-chan! I'm sorry!" While Keel folded her arms, she noticed a couple of students who were walking by and laughing at them. To Keel, she always wondered why students looked at them; smiling, laughing, or even glaring at them. What, was it something that they did that angered them? "Tch." She didn't even bother with people like them; carefree, and not taking anything seriously.

And she especially hates it when it's the humans staring at them.

"Keel, did you just click your tongue at me?!" Raphtalia asked, looking even more annoyed. Like a defense mechanism, automatically, Keel started to wave her hands from side to side, denying anything that Raphtalia was saying.

"N-no, I wasn't! I wasn't, I swear!" Raphtalia's disappointed look still didn't falter.

"Then, why did you-"

"Keel-kun, mind explaining to us why you decided to sleep under this tree?" Before Raphtalia could finish her question, Rifana had cut her off, getting the attention from the both of them. "Couldn't you have just slept somewhere else?"

"Well, I go to this tree sometimes whenever I feel annoyed or tired." Keel replied while scratching the back of her head nervously.

"How come we didn't know about this?" Raphtalia asked, suddenly forgetting the subject that was left behind.

"Hey, I need my own time too, you know. We don't _have _to always be with one another, Raphtalia-chan." Raphtalia's face reddened a bit.

"I-I know that! We don't have to be with one another all the time… but I just feel comfortable sticking to my friends… I don't like being lonely." She answered shyly.

'_She's an angel…' _Were the thoughts of Keel and Rifana, all the while during their faint blushes.

"W-well, now that we're done here, let's hurry and get to class already! Lunch is going to be over soon!" Keel reminded them. To how she knew this, she didn't. She needed an excuse to get out of this predicament.

"Let's hurry then! We can't afford to be late to class!" Grabbing both Rifana's and Keel's arms, she started to drag them along with her, all the while during her sprint for the school's doors.

* * *

During the sprout of the next day, it began like any other; school bell rings, classes start, the teacher walks in, and normality begins. And just like any other day, it was time for lunch, the time of school that every student likes. It was the time of having a break from all the work, the stress, and anything on your mind. It was the time to interact with your friends that you would barely have the time to do so because of the fact that they are doors away from you.

It was-

"Why… is _he _there?!" Came an aggravated Keel's voice. While it was time for lunch, Keel wanted her friends to relax near the tree, have a chat, and be on their way to the next class. But, what she didn't expect, was the laid down Naofumi Iwatani that rested his head on his arms under the tree. Looking carefully, you could see that his eyes were closed. He was sleeping.

"Shh, keep your voice low, Keel-kun, you don't want to wake him up, do you?" Rifana asked, tugging on Keel's school shirt.

"To hell if he-!" Before she finished, Rifana's instinct of closing Keel's mouth went into play.

"U-um, maybe he doesn't mind us eating there?" Came from the shaken voice of Raphtalia. Sure, Raphtalia was shy when it came to meeting new people, but when it's her crush, Rifana knew that she was weak to him. Now, it was Rifana's time to have some fun.

"Well~, I wonder if he doesn't mind, hm~? Care to find out, Raphtalia-chan?" Hearing her voice become playful, Raphtalia shuddered.

"...What are you planning?" She asked, already becoming skeptical of what Rifana's plan was.

"Oh, just going to have a bit of fun, Raphtalia-chan! Make sure Keel-kun doesn't make too much noise okay? I'll be right back~!" Letting go of Keel, Rifana skipped her way towards the sleeping Naofumi Iwatani. Before she did her plan, she looked back and gave Raphtalia a mischievous smile, which confused Raphtalia and Keel at first, but her next action is what blew their minds…

Crouching down a bit, Rifana's head lowered to Naofumi's left ear. There, she could smell the aroma of Naofumi's hair brushing into her face. And with her lips opened ever-so-slightly, she spoke…

"_Wshhhhh…" _

And standing back up, before she could even move, she was suddenly grabbed away from Naofumi, and forced to look towards a blushing Raphtalia. And as a blush, her face was all red.

"D-did you… d-did you just…" As Rifana would like to know how she was pulled away from Naofumi so fast by Raphtalia, she would also like to get out of this situation that she's in. "K-kiss… k-kiss…"

"Kiss? My, Raphtalia, you are already-" Before she continued, Rifana noticed the tears in the corner of Raphtalia's eyes that were almost ready to burst.

"You didn't do what I think you just did, right? We couldn't see what you did, but it l-looked like you… k-kissed him."

Ah.

Rifana didn't think this through, but from the angle that she crouched, it almost appeared as though she had kissed Naofumi on the cheek on their end.

"H-huh? I-I didn't! I only whispered in his ear!" She honestly spoke out. As her shoulders were being tightened harder and harder by an upset Raphtalia, she knew… that what she did was probably a mistake.

"T-Then out with it! T-tell Raphtalia what you said to him!" Keel was as nervous and scared as Rifana. Acting like this as a child was one thing, but a crying Raphtalia that had the strength to back up her words wasn't a good sign either!

"Wshh…!" After answering, Raphtalia stopped and looked at Rifana with blank eyes.

"Wssh?" She repeated while tilting her head. Rifana nodded her head quickly.

"Wssh?" Keel repeated for her.

"Wssh."

"Wssh?"

"Wssh."

…

"What the hell's a "wssh"?!" Keel asked loudly.

"I was just playing, Keel-kun! I wanted to see if he would react to that!" And with the three of them looking back to Naofumi, they noticed that he was still asleep.

"W-well, Raphtalia, w-would you like to-"

"No I don't! Stop playing around and let's hurry and get back to class!" Raphtalita immediately rejected her proposal. Grabbing her arm aggressively, Raphtalia started to pull Rifana towards the school's doors.

"A-are you sure? It's just a whisper, you won't do any harm to him, you know. He's asleep, so he probably won't hear a thing!" Stopping for a second, Raphtalia looked back at her with a shy look.

"Is he… still asleep?" Rifana nodded her head. Raphtalia turned the opposite direction.

"He didn't… move, right?" Rifana nodded her head.

"It's… only going to take a few seconds, right?" Rifana nodded her head.

"Y-yeah, it'll only take a few seconds! W-we could just hurry to the doors after "wsshing" him! It'll be fast and easy!"

It appears as though Raphtalia was trying to get herself to do this…

Before Rifana even knew it, she, along with Raphtalia, was standing above a sleeping Naofumi. Shaking a bit, Raphtalia crouched down nervously, before closing her eyes and slowly moving her shaking head towards Naofumi's ear.

And silently…

"_W-wshhh!" _And not a single part of Naofumi's body had moved after that. Raphtalia, who stood back up, was red in the face. With tears almost beginning to burst from her eyes, Raphtalia sprinted for the school's doors, not even thinking of looking back.

'_I… suppose that should suffice. Now… where did Keel-kun-' _Looking down at Naofumi, she noticed that Keel, who was silently crouched next to her, stood back up.

"_What…?" _Keel silently whispered with a blank face, as if she did nothing wrong.

"_What did you… what did you say to him?" _Rifana hadn't heard what Keel had said to the sleeping Naofumi because she was distracted. When did she even decide to whisper into his ear?

Keel didn't say anything to her question. Instead, she decided to walk towards the school's doors without a stop of hesitation, leaving behind a confused Rifana. But after standing there for a bit, the sound of rustling was heard in Rifana's ears. Looking back down, Rifana watched Naofumi's sleeping body begin to shift on his side, hiding his face away from her.

'_Huh, well, I guess none of us was able to-'_ But before her thoughts were finished, she noticed something that caught her eye. Specifically, _something _on Naofumi's body that bothered her.

A tint of red that was on his exposed left ear…

Giggling slightly, she crouched down again, lowering her head towards Naofumi's ear once again and spoke…

"_I wonder how long you've been awake… Naofumi-kun~." _

Walking away, she didn't care anymore if Naofumi was awake again. She didn't care if he was slightly red in the ear.

Instead, she only wondered _who _was able to make Naofumi blush.


	14. (Short Discussion)

Um... how should I put this? Well, sorry, this isn't another chapter, but, at the end of this week, I should be rid of this message, and... nevermind, it might stay for the time being. Well, I'm not bored of this story, it's just... it's hard to think of any ideas for it. And so, I'm counting on anyone to think of anything cute for the group! And... if you're not bothered by it, should I include some drama into this? I had some ideas, but I was kind of afraid of it. Toodles, everyone!


	15. Naofumi Wants To Be Nice!

**(A/N)**

**I'm working through PAIN! I hate the dentist!**

Once again, it was like any normal day for Naofumi Iwatani. He walks to school, gets the stares and glares that he's used to, and silently goes into class. Compared to others that would be considered lonely, the reason for Naofumi's loneliness was that of rumors.

"You should've seen him~! Some losers had the balls to look at me, and Motoyasu-kun grabbed me by the waist and growled at them!"

The voice that already set the downfall of his mood had already entered the room.

"Sorry, everyone! Am I late?!" The voice of a tired man had rushed into the room, giving everyone the idea of the thought of him running all the way to school. Well, he was visibly sweating, after all.

"Motoyasu-kun~! Here I am~!" The voice that caused irritation yelled out to him. Seeing who it was, he waved his hand to her.

"Ah, Malty!" As usual, he walked over to speak to Malty.

This was an everyday thing for Naofumi.

Malty, the girl who was the talk of the talk among most guys, was someone of beauty. She cherished the thought of-

"Screw them."

…

Naofumi hoped for the teacher to come into the class soon. The sooner he does, the faster he doesn't have to worry about the two lovebirds that annoyed him so much. And all he had to do was wait with his head down.

"Naofumi Iwatani." Hearing another voice that resembled a male teen, he raised his head a bit to see who wanted to annoy him.

"What do you want, Ren?" Standing before him was the male teen named Ren Amaki. While his appearance resembled that of a lonely person… he sadly is.

"I'm here to collect your homework like always? You have done it, correct?" Sighing, Naofumi reached into his bag and grabbed his papers of the latest homework and handed it to him.

"Hm" With Naofumi's papers in hand, he began to skim through his work. "Nicely done, Naofumi. I shouldn't expect less from one of the top students in this school." He spoke after skimming through.

'_Why is he even skimming through my work to begin with? He must be taking his role in the student council very seriously...' _Naofumi thought to himself. After bowing to him, Ren left him to his own thoughts.

Strange to say, Ren was one who didn't care about the rumors on Naofumi. He was a member of the student council; such things like rumors shouldn't even be a concern to him. Other than his role, Ren was often displayed as cold and hardworking to many of his classmates. The reasons as to why were strange to everyone. He liked to work alone, that's all.

'_And that was a few more words than normal.' _Naofumi thought. Ren only speaks a few words to people. For one, it goes along with his lonely appearance and attitude. But today, it appears that Ren's in a good mood. He spoke a few more words to Naofumi than anyone else before so… that's good, right?

'_Judging at lunch, those three are going to come to me again,' _Naofumi glanced at his bag a bit, noticing the fact that he had in fact brought some lunch with him. And by "some" it was actually a lot. '_I just need their view on these meals that I prepared and that's all. It's not like I'm making them food for the act of their kindness.' _

Oh?

…

Oh…

Naofumi was currently mentally explaining to himself as to why he made so much lunch for him and his friends. As for the reason… this is what's called an act of a "Tsundere". Raphtalia had made him a lot of food one too many times, but for now, it was probably time for him to-

'_Knowing Rifana, she's going to make the situation worse. Should I even give this food to them? What if the situation even gets worse because of her? She's going to try to make things a whole lot more troubling for me then. Gah! Why am I having trouble deciding so trivial?!' _Naofumi couldn't help but grip the edge of the table in agitation.

Hm, I wonder why~...

* * *

'_Just give it to them and let them eat. There's nothing else to say to them but allow them to eat the food. I just need to know if it's good and that's all. Now… crap, where are they?' _Strangely enough, with lunch being allowed at a different time than usual, Naofumi had to figure out where Raphtalia and her friends would go for lunch.

For his exploration… let's just say that it took Naofumi a while to figure out where they were.

'_And why wasn't the roof the first thing that came to mind?' _As Naofumi stopped at the entrance at the roof, he looked in his bag to look at the food he had prepared for them. He came a long way to get here, so why was he stopping right here? He stared at them through the glass pane of the door, and noticed how happy they were. For some reason, it felt strange to Naofumi. It was almost as if…

They could be happy without him.

And to that thought, he sighed. "Why am I even doing this?" Was it wrong to even feel this way? After all, with all that he's been through, was it truly alright to make friends at this time? To himself again, he felt as though that the closer that he gets to them, the more trouble it would bring to them.

'_I shouldn't have bothered at all.'_ He thought to himself.

"Naofumi-kun? What are you doing?" As he stood at the entrance, he hadn't noticed that the door had been swung open by Rifana herself.

"...Nothing, why would you think that?"

"Because I could see your hair sticking out of the window of the door here. Are you okay?" She was concerned.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be? Whatever, let's just… eat." Naofumi quickly brushed past her to get to the roof.

"Naofumi-kun?!" With her lunch in her lap, Raphtalia was taken off guard by Naofumi's sudden appearance. While she was usually the one to go to him for lunch, she didn't expect him to approach her.

'_Oh, no! I forgot to bring him some food?! This is what I get for rushing out of the house too quickly! Please don't ask for any! Please don't ask for any!' _Raphtalia panicked as she remembered that she forgot to make lunch for Naofumi as any usual day. To that, she was embarrassed enough to even forget such an important thing.

"...Hey."

'_Why does he sound nervous?! Was he hoping that I would give him the lunch by now?! Or is he disappointed that I didn't greet him?! How could I be such an idiot?!' _

"Are… you okay, Raphtalia-chan?" Keel asked the nervous-looking Raphtalia right next to her.

"H-huh? W-why would you e-ever think t-that, Keel-kun?" With her head slowly turning to Keel, she could easily see that there was something wrong. And just by looking at her hands that were gripping her lunch aggressively…

'_I think I'm good.' _Keel thought to herself.

"Nevermind." Keel then took a bite of her sandwich.

"I…" Naofumi began to speak, getting everyone's attention towards him. Including the nervous-looking Raphtalia. "I… made some lunch for everyone."

…

…

"Huh?" Asked Keel and Rifana, who couldn't believe what they were hearing right now. Naofumi… making lunch for them? Who would've thought?

"You made…" Rifana started with a noticeable tint of pink on her face.

"...Lunch for us?" Keel finished with an incredulous look.

Naofumi couldn't bear the fact that they were staring at him a bit too much. He wasn't expecting them to be so… normal about this?

"Sorry, Naofumi, but we all brought our own lunch here. Like, look at Raphtalia for example? She's already occupied with her own food right now.

"H-huh? O-oh, this?" With all eyes on her, Raphtalia was too nervous to do anything. Again, she was taken off guard by Naofumi.

'_He… h-he made l-lunch for me?! W-what should I d-do?! I already have lunch! Wait…!' _Being quick to do something, Raphtalia held her lunch into the air…

And threw it off the roof.

...It went… very far.

"I… forgot to bring my lunch…" Raphtalia said with a smile.

'_...I'm not…'_ Keel couldn't get her train of thought together after witnessing such strength and craziness. "Rifana-chan, what about-huh?" Looking at Rifana, she noticed that there were crumbs of food on the sides of her mouth.

"I… already finished it, hehehe…" Keel couldn't believe what she was witnessing. She knew that this was a rare sight of Naofumi making lunch for them, but…

"Alright… we'll take them." Setting down her sandwich, she lost the battle.

"Y-yeah," It appears that he was still in shock after what Raphtalia did. "L-listen, just tell me tomorrow if it's good or not. I need to know for certain." After laying down the stack of food that he made for them, Rifana couldn't help but wonder about something.

"You're not eating with us? And why do you need to know if it's good or not? Aren't you already a good cook?" With that question, Naofumi was quickly taken off guard.

"Well, I just wanted to know, alright? Now, if you excuse me, I have… things to do." With that, it was surprising to the three of them to notice how fast Naofumi could be to leave an area.

"And… he's gone." Keel was the one who pointed that out to them.

"But… I didn't get the chance to say thank you…" Silently, Raphtalia cried in tears of happiness and sadness. Happiness for how good the food was, and sadness for her missed chance.


End file.
